Orleans Technical College HVAC (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Heating, Air Conditioning, Ventilation and Refrigeration Maintenance Technology/Technician (HAC, HACR, HVAC, HVACR)
- Private nonprofit college
- Philadelphia, PA
- About 71 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Orleans Technical College HVAC graduates earn about what HVAC graduates earn nationally, $37,848 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $7,521 in federal loans, less than at 83% of HVAC programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying HVAC programs in Pennsylvania.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Pennsylvania and national columns are the medians across all HVAC certificate programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Orleans Technical College graduates earn more than the national figure and about $2,157 more than the Pennsylvania median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Pennsylvania HVAC program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Pennsylvania 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 39% between the first and fifth year. Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in Pennsylvania earn a median of $62,400 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 heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers at every experience level.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $5,939 less in their first year than other graduates. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $80 a month, or 2.5% 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
92% of graduates (111 of 121) were working in Pennsylvania one year after graduating. Prices in the Philadelphia area are about 3% above the national average, so a $37,848 salary here buys what about $36,905 buys in a typical US city.
The median Pennsylvania HVAC technician earns $62,400, compared with a national median of $61,010. After adjusting for Pennsylvania prices, that pay is worth about $63,953, which puts Pennsylvania slightly ahead.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to HVAC, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Heating, Air Conditioning, and Refrigeration Mechanics and Installers
$62,400Median pay in Pennsylvania. 15,880 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 11% from 2025 to 2035, with about 40,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
About Orleans Technical College
HVAC ranks 3rd of 5 certificate programs at Orleans Technical College by first-year earnings. The top three are Construction Finishing and Inspection ($39,735), Electrician Training ($39,139), and HVAC ($37,848).
Other HVAC certificate programs near Philadelphia
Common questions
The median graduate earns $37,848 one year after graduating and $52,694 five years after. Heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration mechanics and installers in the Philadelphia metro area earn a median of $64,580 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $7,521, which ranks the lowest of 5 HVAC certificate programs in Pennsylvania. That works out to about $80 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 20% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 29%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10% or less.
Most do. 92% (111 of 121) were working in Pennsylvania 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 Pennsylvania 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 HVAC 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