Human Resources Management and Services at Moraine Park Technical College

The small sample size here (under 30 graduates) means these numbers could shift substantially with more data, but what we're seeing isn't encouraging. Graduates earn $36,886 their first year—about $6,000 below Wisconsin's median for HR associate's programs and roughly $3,100 below the national benchmark. That 11th percentile national ranking puts this program near the bottom of similar offerings across the country, though it performs closer to the state middle (40th percentile) because Wisconsin's HR programs generally underperform.

The debt picture offers the one bright spot: $16,261 is nearly $10,000 less than the national median for this program and right in line with Wisconsin averages. That keeps the debt-to-earnings ratio at 0.44, meaning graduates owe less than half their first-year salary. However, when top Wisconsin technical colleges like Northeast Wisconsin and Waukesha County produce graduates earning $45,000+—nearly $9,000 more annually—those programs deliver substantially better returns on similar debt loads.

For an anxious parent, the question is whether the convenience or specific fit of Moraine Park outweighs the earnings gap. If your student can access one of Wisconsin's stronger HR programs without major logistical hurdles, those extra thousands per year compound significantly over a career. If this is the most practical option, the manageable debt at least means they won't graduate underwater.