Which Northern Essex Community College associate's program has the lowest debt?

Criminal Justice graduates leave with a median of $7,432 in federal loans, the lowest among 8 Northern Essex Community College associate's programs that report debt.

How much does Northern Essex Community College cost?

In-state tuition and fees are $6,732 a year, and $12,516 for out-of-state students. After grants and scholarships, the average net price is $6,046 a year.

How many Northern Essex Community College programs report graduate pay?

8 associate's programs and 5 certificate programs at Northern Essex Community College report first-year pay, and 12 of them also report federal debt.

Northern Essex Community College Programs, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

Public college
Haverhill, MA
3,685 undergraduates

College Scorecard June 2026 release

The short answer

8 Northern Essex Community College associate's programs report what graduates earn. Nursing pays the most in the first year ($74,427), and Teacher Education the least ($28,635). The median program pays $42,933. Northern Essex Community College also has 5 certificate programs that report pay.

In-state tuition and fees$6,732Per year. Out-of-state $12,516

Average net price after aid$6,046Per year

Graduation rate21%Within 1.5 times the normal program length

All 8 associate's programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in Massachusetts" compares first-year pay with the same field's associate's programs across Massachusetts. 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 Massachusetts
1	NursingAbout 18 graduates a year	$74,427	$85,914	$17,125	8th of 17
2	Diagnostic and Treatment ProfessionsAbout 24 graduates a year	$67,610	$73,608	$14,697	3rd of 8
3	Health SciencesAbout 7 graduates a year	$50,389	$35,662	$9,190	1st of 3
4	Business AdministrationAbout 24 graduates a year	$46,439	Not reported	$11,000	1st of 10
5	Criminal JusticeAbout 25 graduates a year	$39,426	$48,911	$7,432	5th of 11
6	AccountingAbout 13 graduates a year	$37,960	$61,448	$11,633	1st of 2
7	Liberal Arts and General StudiesAbout 89 graduates a year	$31,549	$43,911	$9,969	6th of 14
8	Teacher EducationAbout 13 graduates a year	$28,635	$38,208	$10,129	5th of 7

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

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

All 5 certificate programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in Massachusetts" compares first-year pay with the same field's certificate programs across Massachusetts. 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 Massachusetts
1	Practical NursingAbout 23 graduates a year	$50,770	Not reported	$11,452	12th of 13
2	Alternative MedicineAbout 11 graduates a year	$49,459	Not reported	Not reported	1st of 1
3	Allied Health and Medical AssistingAbout 28 graduates a year	$38,885	$41,894	$7,925	3rd of 6
4	Health and Medical AdministrationAbout 5 graduates a year	$37,514	$41,559	$8,462	1st of 3
5	Mental Health and Addiction ServicesAbout 28 graduates a year	$27,799	$38,653	$12,866	1st of 1

One more certificate program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Quick picks: associate's programs

Highest first-year pay

Nursing$74,427
Diagnostic and Treatment Professions$67,610
Health Sciences$50,389
Business Administration$46,439
Criminal Justice$39,426

Lowest median debt

Criminal Justice$7,432
Health Sciences$9,190
Liberal Arts and General Studies$9,969
Teacher Education$10,129
Business Administration$11,000

Largest programs

Liberal Arts and General StudiesAbout 89 graduates a year
Criminal JusticeAbout 25 graduates a year
Diagnostic and Treatment ProfessionsAbout 24 graduates a year
Business AdministrationAbout 24 graduates a year
NursingAbout 18 graduates a year

Common questions

Nursing graduates earn a median of $74,427 in their first year, the most of 8 Northern Essex 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 Massachusetts 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