Design and Applied Arts at Seminole State College of Florida

The small class size here means proceed carefully, but the underlying economics look solid: graduates owe just $10,667 while earning $31,347 their first year out—a debt load they could realistically clear in less than a year of focused repayment. That 0.34 debt-to-earnings ratio beats most Florida design programs handily, where the state median debt runs to $26,757.

Earnings-wise, this program sits comfortably in the middle of Florida's design landscape. It trails Palm Beach State by about $5,000 but stays well ahead of larger for-profit programs like Full Sail and Keiser, where graduates earn in the low $20,000s despite often carrying heavier debt loads. Nationally, Seminole State graduates land in the 70th percentile for earnings—respectable territory for an associate's degree in a field not known for stratospheric early-career pay.

The main asterisk: with fewer than 30 graduates in this data, a few outliers could skew these numbers significantly. If your child is seriously considering this path, connect with recent alumni or the career services office to verify these outcomes hold across different cohorts. But based on what's visible here, this represents affordable training with manageable debt and earnings that roughly match the Florida standard for entry-level design work.