Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Technologies at Mobile Technical Training

The small sample size here demands caution, but the numbers tell a concerning story. Mobile Technical Training's graduates earn $24,432 their first year—roughly $11,000 below both the state and national median for automotive programs. That puts this program in the bottom 10% statewide and bottom 5% nationally. When comparable New Jersey programs like Universal Technical Institute-Bloomfield produce graduates earning $40,000+, the earnings gap is hard to ignore.

The minimal debt load ($2,420) provides some cushion—graduates aren't drowning in loans. But even with that advantage, the debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.10 becomes less meaningful when the underlying earnings are this low. Starting at $24,000 means financial independence will be challenging regardless of debt levels, particularly in New Jersey's high cost-of-living environment. The 87% Pell Grant rate suggests the student body comes from families with limited financial resources, making strong earnings outcomes even more critical.

With such a small graduate cohort, these numbers could reflect unusual circumstances or simply statistical noise. However, when other New Jersey technical schools consistently produce automotive grads earning 30-50% more, that's worth investigating. Before committing, parents should ask the school directly about job placement rates, whether these graduates found work in automotive repair (versus other fields), and what explains the earnings gap versus nearby competitors.