Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Technologies at Perry Technical Institute

Perry Technical Institute's automotive program sits in an interesting middle ground—it keeps debt remarkably low but doesn't deliver the earnings premium you might expect from a specialized technical institute. At under $8,000 in debt, graduates owe about $4,000 less than the Washington state median for these programs and roughly half the national average. That's genuinely impressive debt management.

The earnings picture is more complicated. While the $36,253 starting salary beats the national median slightly, it falls below the state median and lands in just the 40th percentile among Washington's automotive programs. Nearby Spokane Community College, for instance, produces graduates earning roughly $1,000 more right out of the gate. The 8% earnings growth to nearly $40,000 by year four is steady but not spectacular—you're looking at modest, linear progression rather than dramatic career acceleration.

For a family weighing this investment, the math works cleanly: the debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.22 means your child could theoretically pay off the full loan amount in under three months of gross income. That low-risk financial profile matters, especially given that half of Perry's students qualify for Pell grants. This program won't make your child the highest earner among Washington mechanics, but it will train them for stable work without the debt burden that often crushes trade school graduates.