Which Central Piedmont Community College associate's program has the lowest debt?

Business Administration graduates leave with a median of $6,959 in federal loans, the lowest among 6 Central Piedmont Community College associate's programs that report debt.

How much does Central Piedmont Community College cost?

In-state tuition and fees are $2,792 a year, and $8,936 for out-of-state students. After grants and scholarships, the average net price is $3,345 a year.

How many Central Piedmont Community College programs report graduate pay?

16 associate's programs and 2 certificate programs at Central Piedmont Community College report first-year pay, and 6 of them also report federal debt.

Central Piedmont Community College Programs, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

Public college
Charlotte, NC
15,067 undergraduates

College Scorecard June 2026 release

The short answer

16 Central Piedmont Community College associate's programs report what graduates earn. Nursing pays the most in the first year ($73,310), and Teacher Education the least ($23,865). The median program pays $38,556. Central Piedmont Community College also has 2 certificate programs that report pay.

In-state tuition and fees$2,792Per year. Out-of-state $8,936

Average net price after aid$3,345Per year

Graduation rate31%Within 1.5 times the normal program length

All 16 associate's programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in North Carolina" compares first-year pay with the same field's associate's programs across North Carolina. 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 North Carolina
1	NursingAbout 73 graduates a year	$73,310	$69,816	$16,125	5th of 53
2	Diagnostic and Treatment ProfessionsAbout 46 graduates a year	$61,455	$57,950	$16,422	1st of 22
3	Dental Hygiene and AssistingAbout 50 graduates a year	$56,456	$59,661	Not reported	4th of 6
4	AccountingAbout 32 graduates a year	$45,092	$38,461	Not reported	1st of 3
5	Vehicle Maintenance and RepairAbout 58 graduates a year	$44,653	$62,806	Not reported	2nd of 6
6	Criminal JusticeAbout 22 graduates a year	$44,616	$50,524	Not reported	1st of 7
7	Computer and Information ScienceAbout 56 graduates a year	$40,854	$58,334	$10,456	4th of 7
8	Welding and MachiningAbout 18 graduates a year	$40,149	$51,610	Not reported	1st of 1
9	Business AdministrationAbout 90 graduates a year	$36,962	$51,380	$6,959	8th of 19
10	Allied Health and Medical AssistingAbout 51 graduates a year	$35,967	$46,515	$17,512	7th of 16
11	Paralegal StudiesAbout 10 graduates a year	$35,314	$49,630	Not reported	1st of 1
12	Health and Medical AdministrationAbout 30 graduates a year	$35,101	$39,541	Not reported	5th of 15
13	Design and Applied ArtsAbout 62 graduates a year	$30,979	$32,514	Not reported	1st of 3
14	Culinary ArtsAbout 25 graduates a year	$27,127	$30,521	Not reported	2nd of 3
15	Liberal Arts and General StudiesAbout 1,341 graduates a year	$24,056	$44,141	$7,104	36th of 49
16	Teacher EducationAbout 42 graduates a year	$23,865	$34,465	Not reported	7th of 11

Program names link to the program's own page, and North Carolina 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 North Carolina programs in the field do too.

Both certificate programs

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

Program	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Rank in North Carolina
Paralegal StudiesAbout 18 graduates a year	$44,012	$56,167	Not reported	1st of 2
Dental Hygiene and AssistingAbout 22 graduates a year	$31,360	Not reported	Not reported	5th of 6

2 more certificate programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Quick picks: associate's programs

Highest first-year pay

Nursing$73,310
Diagnostic and Treatment Professions$61,455
Dental Hygiene and Assisting$56,456
Accounting$45,092
Vehicle Maintenance and Repair$44,653

Lowest median debt

Business Administration$6,959
Liberal Arts and General Studies$7,104
Computer and Information Science$10,456
Nursing$16,125
Diagnostic and Treatment Professions$16,422

Largest programs

Liberal Arts and General StudiesAbout 1,341 graduates a year
Business AdministrationAbout 90 graduates a year
NursingAbout 73 graduates a year
Design and Applied ArtsAbout 62 graduates a year
Vehicle Maintenance and RepairAbout 58 graduates a year

Common questions

Nursing graduates earn a median of $73,310 in their first year, the most of 16 Central Piedmont Community 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 North Carolina 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