Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Technologies at Southwest Wisconsin Technical College

At $37,745 in first-year earnings, Southwest Wisconsin Technical College's automotive program lands squarely in the middle of the state's technical college landscape—outperforming some established competitors but trailing Fox Valley and Gateway by $6,000 to $8,000. Based on comparable Wisconsin programs, graduates here typically carry around $8,700 in debt, producing a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.23 that's among the most manageable you'll find in any technical field. That's about three months of earnings to clear the educational investment, assuming focused repayment.

The program performs better than 60% of similar automotive certificates nationally, which tells us this isn't an outlier—it's a solid middle performer in a field with consistent demand. Wisconsin's technical college system generally produces strong automotive technicians, and the state median debt of $8,688 is notably below the $11,000 national benchmark for these programs. The earnings here suggest steady employment in shops and dealerships, though not the premium wages that top-tier programs command.

For families weighing this path, the math is straightforward: modest debt meets reliable entry-level earnings in a field where skilled technicians remain in demand. The program won't produce windfall earnings, but it offers a clear path to self-sufficiency without the debt burden that makes repayment painful. Just know these figures reflect typical Wisconsin automotive programs rather than verified outcomes specific to Southwest Wisconsin Tech's graduates.