Computer Programming at Red Rocks Community College

A debt-to-earnings ratio under 0.5 makes the financial case straightforward: peer programs typically produce first-year salaries around $38,000 against roughly $18,000 in debt, meaning graduates could feasibly handle loan payments while establishing themselves in the field. For families concerned about return on investment, this suggests a manageable financial commitment relative to what similar associate programs in computer programming deliver nationally.

The caveat is that with only two schools offering this credential in Colorado and no reported outcomes available for comparison, you're working with limited visibility into how this specific program performs relative to local alternatives. National benchmarks show considerable variation—the top quarter of programs produce first-year earnings above $44,000—so actual outcomes at Red Rocks could differ meaningfully from the national median these estimates draw from. The relatively low Pell grant rate (19%) suggests this isn't primarily serving lower-income students, though that alone doesn't tell you much about program quality or job placement success.

For a two-year credential that gets your child into tech work quickly, the estimated numbers suggest reasonable value if the goal is immediate employment over a bachelor's pathway. Just recognize you're making this decision with less program-specific information than you'd have at schools with reported data, so connecting directly with the department about actual graduate outcomes becomes more critical here.