Computer Engineering Technologies/Technicians at Oregon Institute of Technology

Oregon Tech's Computer Engineering Technologies program dramatically outperforms national expectations, with first-year graduates earning $82,242—nearly 70% more than the national median for this degree. That's exceptional performance for a program at a school with a 92% admission rate. The 95th percentile national ranking confirms this isn't a fluke: Oregon Tech has built something genuinely distinctive in an otherwise middling field. The $31,000 median debt aligns exactly with national norms, yielding a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.38 that most programs would envy.

What makes this harder to evaluate is the Oregon context—Oregon Tech is the only school in the state offering this specific bachelor's program, so the 60th percentile state ranking is actually meaningless (it's comparing the program to itself). The real signal comes from earnings growth: graduates see a 13% increase to $93,175 by year four, suggesting the technical skills taught here remain marketable. With only 30-100 graduates in this sample, there's some uncertainty, but the magnitude of the earnings advantage is too large to dismiss as statistical noise.

For parents weighing cost versus outcome, this is one of those rare cases where a specialized technical program at a less selective school delivers better financial results than many prestigious alternatives. If your child is genuinely interested in hands-on engineering technology work, this program offers a clear path to six-figure earnings within a few years at manageable debt levels.