Which Harrisburg Area Community College associate's program has the lowest debt?

Paralegal Studies graduates leave with a median of $13,337 in federal loans, the lowest among 18 Harrisburg Area Community College associate's programs that report debt.

How much does Harrisburg Area Community College cost?

In-district tuition and fees are $6,975 a year, and $12,472 for out-of-state students. After grants and scholarships, the average net price is $14,471 a year.

How many Harrisburg Area Community College programs report graduate pay?

20 associate's programs and one certificate program at Harrisburg Area Community College report first-year pay, and 19 of them also report federal debt.

Harrisburg Area Community College Programs, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

Public college
Harrisburg, PA
9,533 undergraduates

College Scorecard June 2026 release

The short answer

20 Harrisburg Area Community College associate's programs report what graduates earn. Nursing pays the most in the first year ($73,041), and Social Sciences the least ($27,600). The median program pays $38,424. Harrisburg Area Community College also has one certificate program that reports pay.

In-district tuition and fees$6,975Per year. Out-of-state $12,472

Average net price after aid$14,471Per year

Graduation rate21%Within 1.5 times the normal program length

All 20 associate's programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in Pennsylvania" compares first-year pay with the same field's associate's programs across Pennsylvania. 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 Pennsylvania
1	NursingAbout 462 graduates a year	$73,041	$79,012	$28,250	7th of 17
2	Diagnostic and Treatment ProfessionsAbout 41 graduates a year	$62,227	$60,922	$24,150	4th of 19
3	Medical Laboratory ScienceAbout 14 graduates a year	$55,875	Not reported	$29,792	2nd of 4
4	Dental Hygiene and AssistingAbout 17 graduates a year	$52,497	$60,594	Not reported	2nd of 8
5	Medical Illustration and InformaticsAbout 9 graduates a year	$47,775	Not reported	Not reported	1st of 1
6	Information TechnologyAbout 48 graduates a year	$41,699	Not reported	$20,500	2nd of 5
7	Other Communication and JournalismAbout 39 graduates a year	$41,282	Not reported	$18,375	1st of 1
8	Paralegal StudiesAbout 10 graduates a year	$40,240	$47,087	$13,337	1st of 1
9	Sales and MerchandisingGraduates a year not reported	$38,826	$32,517	$21,141	1st of 1
10	Health and Medical AdministrationAbout 30 graduates a year	$38,736	$42,854	$31,585	3rd of 8
11	AccountingAbout 1 graduates a year	$38,112	$43,135	$17,755	2nd of 4
12	Criminal JusticeAbout 53 graduates a year	$37,916	$45,136	$15,750	2nd of 12
13	Business AdministrationAbout 175 graduates a year	$37,584	$54,313	$16,700	3rd of 8
14	BusinessAbout 68 graduates a year	$36,708	$41,881	$19,976	4th of 9
15	Electrician TrainingAbout 13 graduates a year	$36,532	$50,050	$15,938	6th of 6
16	Software and Media ApplicationsAbout 20 graduates a year	$35,284	$57,544	$17,500	1st of 1
17	Human ServicesAbout 13 graduates a year	$33,674	$35,931	$36,401	1st of 3
18	Liberal Arts and General StudiesAbout 179 graduates a year	$30,455	$39,566	$16,643	4th of 18
19	Teacher EducationAbout 76 graduates a year	$30,289	$31,180	$16,838	1st of 7
20	Social SciencesAbout 37 graduates a year	$27,600	$40,791	$23,500	1st of 1

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

5 more associate's programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

One certificate program

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

Program	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Rank in Pennsylvania
Allied Health and Medical AssistingAbout 28 graduates a year	$32,660	Not reported	$14,250	2nd of 9

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

Quick picks: associate's programs

Highest first-year pay

Nursing$73,041
Diagnostic and Treatment Professions$62,227
Medical Laboratory Science$55,875
Dental Hygiene and Assisting$52,497
Medical Illustration and Informatics$47,775

Lowest median debt

Largest programs

NursingAbout 462 graduates a year
Liberal Arts and General StudiesAbout 179 graduates a year
Business AdministrationAbout 175 graduates a year
Teacher EducationAbout 76 graduates a year
BusinessAbout 68 graduates a year

Common questions

Nursing graduates earn a median of $73,041 in their first year, the most of 20 Harrisburg Area 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 Pennsylvania 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