Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Technologies at Midlands Technical College

At $30,639 in first-year earnings, Midlands Technical College's automotive program falls nearly $5,000 short of South Carolina's median for similar programs—a significant gap when the state median itself trails the national average. Greenville Technical College, just up the road, sees graduates earning nearly $10,000 more annually. The moderate debt level of $10,506 is reasonable in absolute terms, but paired with below-average earnings, it means graduates are taking longer to recover their educational investment than peers at other South Carolina community colleges.

The numbers tell a consistent story: this program ranks in the 22nd percentile nationally and merely at the 40th percentile within South Carolina. For a field where technical skills should translate fairly directly into comparable starting wages, these earnings suggest either weaker employer connections or less comprehensive training than competing programs provide. The 39% Pell grant enrollment shows this serves students who need their credential to quickly translate into family-supporting wages.

If automotive repair is the goal, comparing outcomes at Greenville Technical and other in-state options makes sense before committing. That $10,000 earnings difference compounds significantly over a career, and the debt burden is similar across programs. This isn't a bad program necessarily, but South Carolina offers demonstrably better pathways into the same field.