Health Professions at Frederick Community College

A debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.44 looks manageable on paper, but the reality here is murkier than those numbers suggest. Based on peer programs nationally, graduates might expect around $35,200 in first-year earnings and $15,400 in debt—both figures that place this program near the national middle for associate-level health professions training. That ratio means roughly five months of gross earnings to clear the debt, which isn't alarming. However, "health professions" is a remarkably broad umbrella, spanning everything from dental hygienists earning $70,000 to medical assistants starting around $30,000, so these estimates could mask significant variation in actual outcomes.

The challenge for parents is that Frederick Community College is the only school in Maryland reporting this particular program configuration, and both earnings and debt figures had to be estimated from national peers rather than actual graduate outcomes. Without knowing which specific health career tracks students pursue—or how Frederick's connections to local healthcare employers compare to the national programs used for estimation—you're essentially betting on the average. If your child is headed toward a higher-paying specialization within health professions, this could represent solid value. If they're tracking toward lower-wage clinical support roles, that $35,000 estimate might prove optimistic, making even modest debt harder to service than the ratio suggests.