Business Administration, Management and Operations at Maysville Community and Technical College

Based on comparable business programs across Kentucky, this associate degree would leave students with roughly $15,000 in debt for first-year earnings around $36,000—a manageable 0.42 ratio that's actually better than both state and national medians for business programs. That four-year earnings figure of $36,768 suggests minimal salary growth in those early years, which is worth noting when you're comparing paths forward. The debt load is slightly below Kentucky's typical $16,255 for these programs, though several community colleges in the state are producing significantly stronger outcomes—Gateway's graduates, for instance, earn $43,658 within a year.

The real limitation here is uncertainty. With earnings and debt both estimated from peer programs rather than reported outcomes from Maysville's actual graduates, you're making decisions with incomplete information. Similar Kentucky programs span a wide range, from the mid-$30,000s to over $43,000, and there's no way to know where Maysville's graduates actually land. The debt is low enough that this isn't a high-risk investment, but whether it's the right investment depends heavily on whether this program actually performs closer to Gateway's outcomes or closer to the state median—and that data simply doesn't exist yet. If your child is committed to staying local, the manageable debt makes this a reasonable option, but exploring programs at Gateway or Elizabethtown might be worth the extra commute.