Rochester Community and Technical College Dental Hygiene and Assisting (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Dental Support Services and Allied Professions
- Public college
- Rochester, MN
- About 34 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Rochester Community and Technical College dental hygiene and assisting graduates earn less than graduates of most dental hygiene and assisting programs nationally, $46,805 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $18,500 in federal loans, close to the national median of $18,589. Several Minnesota programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Minnesota and national columns are the medians across all dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Rochester Community and Technical College graduates earn less than the national figure but about $5,093 more than the Minnesota median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Minnesota dental hygiene and assisting program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Minnesota 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 9% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $196 a month, or 5.0% 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
90% of graduates (36 of 40) were working in Minnesota one year after graduating. Prices in the Rochester area are about 9% below the national average, so a $46,805 salary here buys what about $51,535 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
$65,270Median pay in Minnesota. 5,980 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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
$103,970Median pay in Minnesota. 4,110 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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
$56,090Median pay in Minnesota. 390 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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 Rochester Community and Technical College
Dental Hygiene and Assisting ranks 5th of 9 associate's programs at Rochester Community and Technical College by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($70,020), Construction Finishing and Inspection ($62,398), and Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($60,676).
Other dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs near Rochester
Common questions
The median graduate earns $46,805 one year after graduating and $51,236 five years after. The median across dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs in Minnesota is $47,297.
The median federal loan balance is $18,500, which ranks 3rd lowest of 7 dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs in Minnesota. That works out to about $196 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 40% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 36%. Compare the cost with other Minnesota programs before deciding.
Most do. 90% (36 of 40) were working in Minnesota 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 Minnesota 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