Which Butte College associate's program has the lowest debt?

Social Sciences graduates leave with a median of $9,036 in federal loans, the lowest among 3 Butte College associate's programs that report debt.

How much does Butte College cost?

In-state tuition and fees are $1,356 a year, and $9,276 for out-of-state students. After grants and scholarships, the average net price is $5,520 a year.

How many Butte College programs report graduate pay?

4 associate's programs and one certificate program at Butte College report first-year pay, and 4 of them also report federal debt.

Butte College Programs, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

Public college
Oroville, CA
8,890 undergraduates

College Scorecard June 2026 release

The short answer

4 Butte College associate's programs report what graduates earn. Nursing pays the most in the first year ($104,268), and Social Sciences the least ($26,482). The median program pays $65,660. Butte College also has one certificate program that reports pay.

In-state tuition and fees$1,356Per year. Out-of-state $9,276

Average net price after aid$5,520Per year

Graduation rate45%Within 1.5 times the normal program length

All 4 associate's programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in California" compares first-year pay with the same field's associate's programs across California. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	Program	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Rank in California
1	NursingAbout 116 graduates a year	$104,268	$109,054	$15,375	9th of 53
2	Diagnostic and Treatment ProfessionsAbout 21 graduates a year	$65,853	$81,627	Not reported	13th of 29
3	Practical NursingAbout 27 graduates a year	$65,467	Not reported	$13,382	2nd of 7
4	Social SciencesAbout 316 graduates a year	$26,482	$39,587	$9,036	5th of 10

Program names link to the program's own page, and California ranks link to the full ranking for the field. A program gets its own page when it reports both pay and debt and at least five California programs in the field do too.

One certificate program

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in California" compares first-year pay with the same field's certificate programs across California.

Program	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Rank in California
Criminal JusticeAbout 128 graduates a year	$73,170	$84,378	$15,414	5th of 11

Program names link to the program's own page, and California ranks link to the full ranking for the field.

Common questions

Nursing graduates earn a median of $104,268 in their first year, the most of 4 Butte College associate's programs that report pay.

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Tuition, net price, graduation rate, and admission rate are for the whole school, not one program.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of California rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
NCES, IPEDS tuition and fees, 2023-24, for in-district tuition labels