Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions at Madison Area Technical College

Madison Area Technical College's Allied Health certificate punches significantly above its weight—$57,005 first-year earnings places graduates in the 73rd percentile nationally and beats Wisconsin's median by nearly $10,000. While it doesn't quite match Gateway Technical's $68,753 or Waukesha County Technical's $61,934, it ranks third among Wisconsin's 19 programs in this field. The $17,000 debt load is higher than Wisconsin's typical $12,000, but the debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.30 means graduates carry roughly 5 months of their annual salary in loans—a manageable burden that most can realistically pay down within a few years.

What makes this program particularly compelling is the combination of strong immediate earnings and reasonable program cost. At $57,005, graduates earn more than half the national programs in this field while avoiding the crushing debt that can plague healthcare training. The certificate format suggests a relatively quick path to the workforce, and these earnings represent actual paychecks within a year of completion, not projections.

For an anxious parent, this is a solid vocational bet. Your child can enter a growing healthcare field with manageable debt and earnings that immediately support independent living. The program isn't the absolute best in Wisconsin, but it delivers strong outcomes without the risk of catastrophic debt—exactly what you want from technical college training.