Madison Area Technical College Criminal Justice (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Criminal Justice and Corrections
- Public college
- Madison, WI
- About 28 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Madison Area Technical College criminal justice graduates earn more than graduates of most criminal justice programs nationally, $39,174 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $13,750 in federal loans, close to the national median of $12,524. Several Wisconsin programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Wisconsin and national columns are the medians across all criminal justice associate's programs that report the figure.
Debt and first-year pay at every Wisconsin criminal justice program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Wisconsin medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $146 a month, or 4.5% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
93% of graduates (40 of 43) were working in Wisconsin one year after graduating. Prices in the Madison area are about 3% below the national average, so a $39,174 salary here buys what about $40,266 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 criminal justice, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Security Guards
$37,440Median pay in Wisconsin. 12,030 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 156,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
$78,090Median pay in Wisconsin. 12,320 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 51,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Compliance Officers
$78,800Median pay in Wisconsin. 5,710 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 32,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Child, Family, and School Social Workers
$59,280Median pay in Wisconsin. 5,710 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 33,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Madison Area Technical College
Criminal Justice ranks 10th of 15 associate's programs at Madison Area Technical College by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($66,446), Computer Networking ($65,324), and Software and Media Applications ($65,191).
Other criminal justice associate's programs near Madison
Common questions
The median graduate earns $39,174 one year after graduating. The median across criminal justice associate's programs in Wisconsin is $39,298.
The median federal loan balance is $13,750, which ranks 8th lowest of 10 criminal justice associate's programs in Wisconsin. That works out to about $146 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 35% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 37%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Wisconsin programs report higher pay.
Most do. 93% (40 of 43) were working in Wisconsin 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 Wisconsin 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 criminal justice 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