Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management at Ohio Business College-Sheffield

A debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.62 would normally signal a manageable investment, but the uncertainty around this specific program complicates the picture. Both the $41,832 first-year salary and the $25,849 debt figure come from broader benchmarks—the earnings from three similar Ohio programs, the debt from nearly 50 associate-level programs nationally. That means we're essentially evaluating a generic IT associate's degree rather than what Sheffield's actual graduates experience.

What we can say is that comparable Ohio programs cluster tightly around $42,000 in starting pay, suggesting some consistency in this credential's market value statewide. The estimated debt here runs slightly higher than both Ohio's median ($23,137) and the national benchmark ($21,480), though not dramatically so. For a student body that's 85% Pell-eligible, even a few thousand dollars in extra borrowing matters considerably when monthly payments begin.

The real challenge is that without actual graduate outcomes from Sheffield, you're betting on averages that may or may not reflect this school's training quality, employer connections, or graduate success. If Sheffield's program performs like the state median, the numbers work reasonably well for an IT entry point. If it underperforms—as some Ohio programs do, with graduates earning in the low $30,000s—that debt becomes significantly harder to manage. You'd want direct evidence of job placement rates and actual graduate earnings before committing.