Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions at Huntington Junior College

With only a handful of graduates in this dataset, these numbers require careful interpretation, but the pattern they reveal is troubling. Huntington Junior College's mental health services program produces earnings of $26,687—nearly $6,300 below the national median for this field. While that places graduates at the 60th percentile within West Virginia, that's largely because the state has extremely limited options (just three programs total), not because this program is particularly strong.

The nearly dollar-for-dollar debt-to-earnings ratio means graduates start their careers owing almost a full year's salary. For a field that typically serves vulnerable populations and rarely offers rapid salary growth, this creates real financial strain. The program serves predominantly low-income students (87% receive Pell grants), which makes the debt burden especially concerning—these graduates likely have minimal family resources to fall back on during lean early-career years.

The small sample size means individual circumstances heavily influence these numbers, but the fundamentals remain: you're looking at mid-$20s earnings with debt that takes years to clear. If your child is committed to mental health services work, exploring options in states with stronger social services sectors and lower-cost community colleges would likely yield better outcomes. At minimum, understand this as a high-sacrifice entry point to a helping profession, not a financially sustainable pathway.