Fire Protection at Utah Valley University

Utah Valley University's Fire Protection program offers a debt load of $10,370—below the national median for this field—but the earnings picture requires careful interpretation. The first-year figure of $56,004 comes from a national average of similar programs, not from tracking this school's actual graduates. The Department of Education suppresses earnings data when too few graduates report, which is common in specialized technical fields but leaves parents estimating rather than knowing.

The four-year earnings figure of $83,742 does come from actual graduate data and suggests meaningful salary growth over time. That's a substantial jump that could reflect career progression in fire services, though it's worth understanding that firefighting careers often involve shift differentials, overtime, and benefits packages that don't show up in base salary comparisons. The debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.19 is manageable by most standards—this amount of debt shouldn't dominate monthly budgets even at the estimated starting salary.

The central question is whether this specific program matches the national pattern. As the only Fire Protection associate's degree in Utah, you're not able to compare it against state peers with published outcomes. The relatively low debt gives you margin for error if actual earnings trail the estimates, but you're investing based on what similar programs produce elsewhere rather than what Utah Valley graduates actually earn.