Criminal Justice and Corrections at Forsyth Technical Community College

Forsyth Tech's criminal justice certificate graduates enter the workforce at nearly $50,000—matching the national median and outperforming most North Carolina programs at the 60th percentile. What really sets this apart is the debt load: at just over $21,000, it's substantially higher than the state median but still results in a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.44, meaning graduates earn more than twice what they owe. That's manageable territory, especially for a one-year credential that gets students working quickly.

The caveat matters here: we're looking at fewer than 30 graduates, so individual circumstances could skew these numbers significantly. Still, the earnings align closely with established programs across the state, suggesting this isn't an outlier. For parents weighing community college options in North Carolina, this program delivers middle-of-the-pack earnings with slightly elevated debt—not the lowest-cost path, but far from problematic given the income level.

The bottom line: if your student is set on criminal justice and wants to stay local, this certificate provides reasonable entry into the field. The debt isn't negligible, but it's proportional to first-year earnings. Just remember that the small graduate sample means these outcomes could vary more than usual from one cohort to the next.