Carrington College-Portland Allied Health and Medical Assisting (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services
- Private for-profit college
- Portland, OR
- About 87 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Carrington College-Portland allied health and medical assisting graduates earn more than graduates of most allied health and medical assisting programs nationally, $38,395 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $9,500 in federal loans, close to the national median of $9,500. Two other Oregon programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Oregon and national columns are the medians across all allied health and medical assisting certificate programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Carrington College-Portland graduates earn more than the national figure but about $3,885 less than the Oregon median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Oregon allied health and medical assisting program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Oregon 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 falls about 3% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned about the same in their first year as other graduates. They also borrowed less. At this program, the outcome does not look worse for students with less money.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $101 a month, or 3.2% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual. Separately, 29 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $7,165.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
84% of graduates (195 of 233) were working in Oregon one year after graduating. Prices in the Portland area are about 5% above the national average, so a $38,395 salary here buys what about $36,421 buys in a typical US city.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to allied health and medical assisting, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Medical Assistants
$50,410Median pay in Oregon. 11,840 people work in this job in Oregon. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 13% from 2025 to 2035, with about 109,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
Pharmacy Technicians
$54,900Median pay in Oregon. 4,320 people work in this job in Oregon. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 44,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians
$83,010Median pay in Oregon. 2,660 people work in this job in Oregon. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 20,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Surgical Technologists
$81,390Median pay in Oregon. 1,090 people work in this job in Oregon. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 7,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
About Carrington College-Portland
Allied Health and Medical Assisting ranks 1st of 5 certificate programs at Carrington College-Portland by first-year earnings. The top three are Allied Health and Medical Assisting ($38,395), Health and Medical Administration ($34,016), and Dental Hygiene and Assisting ($30,326).
Other allied health and medical assisting certificate programs near Portland
Common questions
The median graduate earns $38,395 one year after graduating and $37,296 five years after. The median across allied health and medical assisting certificate programs in Oregon is $37,872.
The median federal loan balance is $9,500, which ranks the lowest of 5 allied health and medical assisting certificate programs in Oregon. 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 36%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10–14%.
Most do. 84% (195 of 233) were working in Oregon 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 Oregon 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 allied health and medical assisting 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