Rio Salado College Dental Hygiene and Assisting (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Dental Support Services and Allied Professions
- Public college
- Tempe, AZ
- About 18 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Rio Salado College dental hygiene and assisting graduates earn less than graduates of most dental hygiene and assisting programs nationally, $45,744 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $12,786 in federal loans, less than at 83% of dental hygiene and assisting programs in the country. Debt is low, but pay is also below the Arizona median of $62,481.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Arizona and national columns are the medians across all dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs that report the figure.
Debt and first-year pay at every Arizona dental hygiene and assisting program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Arizona 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 $136 a month, or 3.6% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
97% of graduates (29 of 30) were working in Arizona one year after graduating. Prices in the Phoenix area are about 3% above the national average, so a $45,744 salary here buys what about $44,276 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
$49,000Median pay in Arizona. 8,680 people work in this job in Arizona. 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
$101,010Median pay in Arizona. 4,530 people work in this job in Arizona. 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
$47,930Median pay in Arizona. 950 people work in this job in Arizona. 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 Rio Salado College
Dental Hygiene and Assisting is the only associate's program at Rio Salado College that reports first-year earnings.
Other dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs near Tempe
Common questions
The median graduate earns $45,744 one year after graduating. The median across dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs in Arizona is $62,481.
The median federal loan balance is $12,786, which ranks 3rd lowest of 5 dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs in Arizona. That works out to about $136 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 28% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 36%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Arizona programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 97% (29 of 30) were working in Arizona 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 Arizona 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