Allied Health Diagnostic, Intervention, and Treatment Professions at New Mexico State University-Grants

The biggest red flag here isn't the debt—it's that earnings actually decline by 10% between year one and year four, dropping from $56,196 to $50,481. This suggests graduates may start in higher-paying positions right after graduation but either lose those jobs or move to lower-paying roles as time goes on. That's an unusual pattern for healthcare fields, where earnings typically grow with experience.

The positive side? The debt load is remarkably low at just under $10,000, well below the national average of $19,113 for this program. This puts graduates in a much safer financial position if those earnings do decline—they're not stuck servicing massive loans on a shrinking income. The program performs solidly within New Mexico, ranking at the 60th percentile statewide, though notably several other NMSU campuses show identical earnings figures, which may reflect data aggregation across the system rather than campus-specific outcomes.

For parents, this creates a dilemma: the low debt is genuinely attractive, but the backward earnings trajectory needs explanation. Before enrolling, your child should investigate which specific Allied Health specialties NMSU-Grants trains for and whether local job markets support career advancement in those fields. With such low debt, even the declining earnings might be manageable—but only if those roles provide job stability and benefits that the numbers don't capture.