Is South Puget Sound Community College Worth It?

South Puget Sound Community College gives you a moderate financial return with low risk. You borrow a median of $11,000 to earn about $45,000 ten years out, and that debt load is small enough that most paths here won't bury you. The problem is the earnings ceiling: the school's overall median sits in the mid-$40,000s, and most of its listed programs land well below that.

Program choice decides everything here. Computer Systems Networking and Telecommunications is the clear winner, paying roughly $49,000 with an associate degree. After that the numbers fall off hard. Allied Health and Medical Assisting sits around $34,000, and Legal Support Services, Business Administration, and Nursing all report near $26,000. That nursing figure is the one to watch closely, because it also carries the highest debt of any program listed at nearly $20,000. Borrowing almost as much as the annual pay you can expect makes it the weakest financial trade on this list.

The specific risk here is finishing. Only 42% of students graduate, so the low net price only pays off if you're in the group that completes. Enroll, take on debt, and leave without the credential, and you keep the bill without the earnings bump.

This school fits you if you're staying in the Olympia area, want to keep debt near $11,000, and either target the networking program or use it as a cheap transfer step toward a four-year degree. Look elsewhere if you need an associate degree that stands on its own in nursing or business, since those earnings don't justify the cost or the debt.

On net price, the sticker moves with income. If your family earns under $48,000, you pay under $8,000 a year. above $110,000, it more than doubles to roughly $17,000.