Which Northwood Technical College certificate program has the lowest debt?

Welding and Machining and Cosmetology graduates leave with a median of $5,500 in federal loans, the lowest among 11 Northwood Technical College certificate programs that report debt.

How much does Northwood Technical College cost?

In-state tuition and fees are $4,926 a year, and $7,169 for out-of-state students. After grants and scholarships, the average net price is $8,989 a year.

How many Northwood Technical College programs report graduate pay?

10 associate's programs and 11 certificate programs at Northwood Technical College report first-year pay, and all of them also report federal debt.

Northwood Technical College Programs, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

Public college
Rice Lake, WI
2,149 undergraduates

College Scorecard June 2026 release

The short answer

11 Northwood Technical College certificate programs report what graduates earn. Heavy Equipment Maintenance pays the most in the first year ($55,793), and Cosmetology the least ($18,294). The median program pays $35,796. Northwood Technical College also has 10 associate's programs that report pay.

In-state tuition and fees$4,926Per year. Out-of-state $7,169

Average net price after aid$8,989Per year

Graduation rate56%Within 1.5 times the normal program length

All 10 associate's programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in Wisconsin" compares first-year pay with the same field's associate's programs across Wisconsin. 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 Wisconsin
1	NursingAbout 67 graduates a year	$64,281	$68,980	$17,499	11th of 17
2	Criminal JusticeAbout 16 graduates a year	$44,966	Not reported	$10,252	2nd of 12
3	Business AdministrationAbout 18 graduates a year	$41,564	$51,570	$12,954	7th of 15
4	Information TechnologyAbout 23 graduates a year	$41,473	Not reported	$6,453	6th of 7
5	AccountingAbout 16 graduates a year	$35,039	$41,572	$13,167	8th of 9
6	Health and Medical AdministrationAbout 16 graduates a year	$34,672	Not reported	$16,285	5th of 8
7	Office AdministrationAbout 7 graduates a year	$27,494	$41,464	$16,500	3rd of 4
8	Mental Health and Addiction ServicesAbout 29 graduates a year	$25,557	$38,710	$11,518	5th of 6
9	Allied Health and Medical AssistingAbout 13 graduates a year	$23,818	Not reported	$12,375	11th of 11
10	Human Development and Family StudiesGraduates a year not reported	$18,516	Not reported	$12,914	1st of 1

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

All 11 certificate programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in Wisconsin" compares first-year pay with the same field's certificate programs across Wisconsin. 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 Wisconsin
1	Heavy Equipment MaintenanceAbout 13 graduates a year	$55,793	Not reported	$11,000	1st of 3
2	Computer and Information ScienceGraduates a year not reported	$50,239	Not reported	$10,250	1st of 1
3	Diagnostic and Treatment ProfessionsAbout 79 graduates a year	$43,765	Not reported	$12,000	8th of 11
4	Welding and MachiningAbout 435 graduates a year	$42,282	$51,373	$5,500	7th of 14
5	Allied Health and Medical AssistingAbout 25 graduates a year	$36,070	$34,542	$9,437	4th of 18
6	Health and Medical AdministrationAbout 73 graduates a year	$35,796	$34,744	$10,534	4th of 9
7	Vehicle Maintenance and RepairAbout 43 graduates a year	$35,702	$57,842	$7,000	9th of 10
8	AccountingAbout 74 graduates a year	$30,586	$39,589	$12,751	4th of 4
9	Practical NursingAbout 297 graduates a year	$26,492	$57,622	$8,312	9th of 14
10	Human Development and Family StudiesAbout 75 graduates a year	$23,210	Not reported	$12,000	1st of 1
11	CosmetologyAbout 43 graduates a year	$18,294	$27,307	$5,500	15th of 16

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

Quick picks: certificate programs

Highest first-year pay

Heavy Equipment Maintenance$55,793
Computer and Information Science$50,239
Diagnostic and Treatment Professions$43,765
Welding and Machining$42,282
Allied Health and Medical Assisting$36,070

Lowest median debt

Welding and Machining$5,500
Cosmetology$5,500
Vehicle Maintenance and Repair$7,000
Practical Nursing$8,312
Allied Health and Medical Assisting$9,437

Largest programs

Welding and MachiningAbout 435 graduates a year
Practical NursingAbout 297 graduates a year
Diagnostic and Treatment ProfessionsAbout 79 graduates a year
Human Development and Family StudiesAbout 75 graduates a year
AccountingAbout 74 graduates a year

Common questions

Heavy Equipment Maintenance graduates earn a median of $55,793 in their first year, the most of 11 Northwood Technical College certificate 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 Wisconsin 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