Northwood Technical College Information Technology (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management
- Public college
- Rice Lake, WI
- About 23 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release ยท BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Northwood Technical College information technology graduates earn about what information technology graduates earn nationally, $41,473 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $6,453 in federal loans, less than at 99% of information technology programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying information technology degrees in Wisconsin.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Wisconsin and national columns are the medians across all information technology associate's programs that report the figure.
Debt and first-year pay at every Wisconsin information technology 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 $68 a month, or 2.0% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
Prices in the parts of Wisconsin outside metro areas are about 10% below the national average, so a $41,473 salary here buys what about $46,299 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 information technology, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Project Management Specialists
$97,580Median pay in Wisconsin. 21,610 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 76,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Computer User Support Specialists
$58,810Median pay in Wisconsin. 12,400 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 39,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: some college, no degree.
Computer and Information Systems Managers
$160,140Median pay in Wisconsin. 8,880 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 16% from 2025 to 2035, with about 53,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Network and Computer Systems Administrators
$83,650Median pay in Wisconsin. 8,470 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 13,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Northwood Technical College
Information Technology ranks 4th of 10 associate's programs at Northwood Technical College by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($64,281), Criminal Justice ($44,966), and Business Administration ($41,564).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $41,473 one year after graduating. The median across information technology associate's programs in Wisconsin is $43,909.
The median federal loan balance is $6,453, which ranks the lowest of 5 information technology associate's programs in Wisconsin. That works out to about $68 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 16% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 44%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Wisconsin programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
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 information technology 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