San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia Criminal Justice (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Criminal Justice and Corrections
- Private for-profit college
- Visalia, CA
- About 11 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia criminal justice graduates earn about what criminal justice graduates earn nationally, $33,361 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $19,125 in federal loans, more than at 82% of criminal justice programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying criminal justice degrees in California.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The California and national columns are the medians across all criminal justice associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia graduates earn about the national figure but about $1,931 less than the California median.
Debt and first-year pay at every California criminal justice program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the California 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 34% 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 about the same in their first year as other graduates. At this program, the outcome does not look worse for students with less money.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $203 a month, or 7.3% 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. Separately, 90 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $10,926.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
93% of graduates (245 of 264) were working in California one year after graduating. Prices in the Visalia area are about the same as the national average.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to criminal justice, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Security Guards
$43,240Median pay in California. 199,480 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 1% from 2025 to 2035, with about 156,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Police and Sheriff's Patrol Officers
$118,880Median pay in California. 65,940 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 51,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Compliance Officers
$96,980Median pay in California. 49,880 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 32,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Child, Family, and School Social Workers
$65,200Median pay in California. 60,310 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 33,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia
Criminal Justice ranks 11th of 15 associate's programs at San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($97,011), Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($69,391), and Dental Hygiene and Assisting ($67,916).
Other criminal justice associate's programs near Visalia
Common questions
The median graduate earns $33,361 one year after graduating and $44,717 five years after. The median across criminal justice associate's programs in California is $30,325.
The median federal loan balance is $19,125, which ranks 9th lowest of 9 criminal justice associate's programs in California. That works out to about $203 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 57% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 37%. Compare the cost with other California programs before deciding.
Most do. 93% (245 of 264) were working in California 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 California 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 criminal justice 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