Northern Virginia School of Therapeutic Massage Massage Therapy (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Somatic Bodywork and Related Therapeutic Services
- Private for-profit school
- Falls Church, VA
- About 94 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Northern Virginia School of Therapeutic Massage massage therapy graduates earn more than graduates of most massage therapy programs nationally, $27,082 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $6,333 in federal loans, less than at 93% of massage therapy programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying massage therapy programs in Virginia.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Virginia and national columns are the medians across all massage therapy certificate programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Northern Virginia School of Therapeutic Massage graduates earn more than the national figure and about $2,273 more than the Virginia median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Virginia massage therapy program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Virginia 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 rises about 6% between the first and fifth year. Massage therapists in Virginia earn a median of $62,220 across all experience levels, which shows how much room there is to grow after the first few years.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate. BLS figures cover massage therapists at every experience level.
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. 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 $67 a month, or 3.0% 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.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
52% of graduates (60 of 115) were working in Virginia one year after graduating. Prices in the Washington area are about 9% above the national average, so a $27,082 salary here buys what about $24,872 buys in a typical US city.
The median Virginia massage therapist earns $62,220, compared with a national median of $58,450. After adjusting for Virginia prices, that pay is worth about $61,541, which puts Virginia ahead.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to massage therapy, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Massage Therapists
$62,220Median pay in Virginia. 2,730 people work in this job in Virginia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 15% from 2025 to 2035, with about 20,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
About Northern Virginia School of Therapeutic Massage
Massage Therapy is the only certificate program at Northern Virginia School of Therapeutic Massage that reports first-year earnings.
Other massage therapy certificate programs near Falls Church
Common questions
The median graduate earns $27,082 one year after graduating and $28,656 five years after. Massage therapists in the Washington metro area earn a median of $65,220 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $6,333, which ranks 2nd lowest of 5 massage therapy certificate programs in Virginia. That works out to about $67 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 23% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 41%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10–19%.
Most do. 52% (60 of 115) were working in Virginia 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 Virginia 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 massage therapy 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