Business Operations Support and Assistant Services at Sinclair Community College

That $12,405 first-year earnings figure tells you everything: graduates of this certificate program are earning barely above minimum wage, roughly half what similar programs deliver nationally. While it's true this performs at the median for Ohio—suggesting this is a statewide issue rather than a Sinclair-specific problem—that's cold comfort when your child would be competing in a national job market where most certificate holders earn $25,000+.

The debt load is modest at $6,147, but even that becomes problematic at poverty-level wages. A 0.50 debt-to-earnings ratio might sound reasonable until you realize it means six months of gross income just to cover educational debt—on earnings that won't cover basic living expenses in most of Ohio. The 95th percentile national debt ranking (meaning only 5% of similar programs carry more debt) compounds the concern.

This certificate appears to prepare students for entry-level administrative roles that simply don't pay living wages in Ohio's market. Unless your child already has family support covering living expenses and views this purely as a resume credential while working toward something else, the immediate return on investment is deeply troubling. The national data suggests there are hundreds of similar programs elsewhere that lead to substantially better outcomes—this is a case where looking beyond Ohio's borders would likely pay off.