Fire Protection at Phoenix College

A four-year earnings figure of $54,898 tells us this program leads somewhere—graduates appear to advance beyond entry-level fire service positions. The challenge is the uncertain starting point: with first-year earnings estimated from national peers at $47,024, we don't know if Phoenix College graduates launch at that level or somewhere lower, particularly since Arizona's fire protection programs generally produce more modest outcomes (Pima Community College, for instance, shows first-year earnings around $35,000).

The estimated debt load of $9,557 works in your favor regardless. Even if actual starting salaries skew toward the lower Arizona norm rather than the national median, that's manageable debt for a public safety career with structured advancement. Fire service positions typically offer pension benefits and job security that raw salary figures don't capture, though they also demand physical fitness and shift work that not everyone sustains long-term.

The real question is whether Phoenix College's program opens doors to Phoenix Fire Department or other competitive municipal departments, which pay substantially better than rural or contract services. Without program-specific outcomes, you're betting on local connections and training quality you'll need to evaluate through other means—maybe by talking to current students or checking where recent graduates actually got hired.