Parkland College Dental Hygiene and Assisting (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Dental Support Services and Allied Professions
- Public college
- Champaign, IL
- About 30 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Parkland College dental hygiene and assisting graduates earn about what dental hygiene and assisting graduates earn nationally, $47,133 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $13,625 in federal loans, less than at 77% of dental hygiene and assisting programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying dental hygiene and assisting degrees in Illinois.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Illinois and national columns are the medians across all dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Parkland College graduates earn less than the national figure and about the same as the Illinois median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois dental hygiene and assisting program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Illinois 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 11% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $3,233 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 $144 a month, or 3.7% 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
84% of graduates (42 of 50) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the Champaign area are about 7% below the national average, so a $47,133 salary here buys what about $50,842 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 dental hygiene and assisting, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Dental Assistants
$48,610Median pay in Illinois. 13,740 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 53,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
Dental Hygienists
$96,670Median pay in Illinois. 8,970 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 15,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: associate's degree.
Dental Laboratory Technicians
$51,380Median pay in Illinois. 2,030 people work in this job in Illinois. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 3,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
About Parkland College
Dental Hygiene and Assisting ranks 3rd of 7 associate's programs at Parkland College by first-year earnings. The top three are Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($55,060), Vehicle Maintenance and Repair ($51,093), and Dental Hygiene and Assisting ($47,133).
Other dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs near Champaign
Common questions
The median graduate earns $47,133 one year after graduating and $52,300 five years after. The median across dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs in Illinois is $57,717.
The median federal loan balance is $13,625, which ranks 4th lowest of 7 dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs in Illinois. That works out to about $144 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 29% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 36%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Illinois programs report higher pay.
Most do. 84% (42 of 50) were working in Illinois 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 Illinois 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 dental hygiene and assisting 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