Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services at Los Angeles Mission College

A debt load around $14,000 for healthcare training that leads to nearly $49,000 in first-year earnings sounds promising—and it might be. However, these figures come from comparable programs across California rather than Los Angeles Mission College's actual graduate outcomes, which the Department of Education doesn't publish due to small sample sizes. That means we're making an educated guess about what this specific program delivers.

The good news is that the estimated earnings align with California's median for allied health associate programs, and the debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.29 is manageable by any standard. But there's notable variation in this field: top-performing California programs produce graduates earning $60,000 or more in their first year—roughly $12,000 more than this estimate suggests. Whether that gap reflects differences in program quality, credential type, or simply the uncertainty of estimated data is impossible to know without actual outcomes from Mission College.

For families prioritizing affordability, the estimated debt here is modest compared to the state median of $19,000. But given the opaque data situation, I'd want concrete evidence that Mission College's graduates actually secure employment in the field and earn competitive wages. Ask the school directly about job placement rates and typical starting positions—if they can't provide clear answers, that uncertainty becomes part of your calculation alongside the financial estimates.