Electrical/Electronics Maintenance and Repair Technology at Joliet Junior College

A debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.26 suggests manageable borrowing, with estimated first-year earnings of $45,300 roughly matching the national median for electronics maintenance programs—but remember these figures come from peer institutions across the country, not Joliet's actual graduates. This field typically leads to immediate employment in industries like manufacturing and facilities maintenance, where technical skills command value even without a bachelor's degree. With only 23% of students receiving Pell grants, this appears to be a program drawing students with some financial resources already in place.

The estimated $12,000 debt load sits below the national median of $14,900 for similar programs, which could reflect Joliet's community college pricing advantage or simply variations in the small sample used for estimation. What's harder to assess without school-specific data is whether local employers in the greater Chicago industrial corridor value this particular credential, or how Joliet's curriculum and equipment compare to the national programs these estimates draw from. Electronics maintenance can mean anything from basic troubleshooting to sophisticated programmable logic controller work, and not all associate programs produce the same skill levels.

For parents, the estimated numbers suggest reasonable borrowing relative to earning potential, but the absence of actual outcomes data means you're relying on national patterns rather than proven results from this specific program. Before committing, verify that Joliet has updated equipment, strong industry partnerships in your area, and graduates actually finding work—factors that estimates from distant programs can't capture.