Capstone College HVAC (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Heating, Air Conditioning, Ventilation and Refrigeration Maintenance Technology/Technician (HAC, HACR, HVAC, HVACR)
- Private for-profit college
- Pasadena, CA
- About 73 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Capstone College HVAC graduates earn about what HVAC graduates earn nationally, $38,740 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $9,500 in federal loans, close to the national median of $10,117. Several California programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The California and national columns are the medians across all HVAC certificate programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Capstone College graduates earn more than the national figure and about $6,711 more than the California median.
Debt and first-year pay at every California HVAC program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the California medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 53% between the first and fifth year. Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in California earn a median of $72,560 across all experience levels, which shows how much room there is to grow after the first few years.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate. BLS figures cover heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers at every experience level.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $101 a month, or 3.1% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
93% of graduates (57 of 61) were working in California one year after graduating. Prices in the Los Angeles area are about 14% above the national average, so a $38,740 salary here buys what about $34,112 buys in a typical US city.
The median California HVAC technician earns $72,560, compared with a national median of $61,010. After adjusting for California prices, that pay is worth about $65,535, which puts California ahead.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to HVAC, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers
$72,560Median pay in California. 35,130 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 11% from 2025 to 2035, with about 40,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
About Capstone College
HVAC is the only certificate program at Capstone College that reports first-year earnings.
Other HVAC certificate programs near Pasadena
Common questions
The median graduate earns $38,740 one year after graduating and $59,207 five years after. Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in the Los Angeles metro area earn a median of $73,830 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $9,500, which ranks 4th lowest of 11 HVAC certificate programs in California. That works out to about $101 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 25% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 29%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several California programs report higher pay.
Most do. 93% (57 of 61) were working in California one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- 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 comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the HVAC program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024