South College Allied Health and Medical Assisting (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services
- Private for-profit college
- Knoxville, TN
- About 89 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
South College allied health and medical assisting graduates earn about what allied health and medical assisting graduates earn nationally, $39,733 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $25,889 in federal loans, more than at 80% of allied health and medical assisting programs in the country. Several Tennessee programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Tennessee and national columns are the medians across all allied health and medical assisting associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, South College graduates earn less than the national figure and about $9,628 less than the Tennessee median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Tennessee allied health and medical assisting program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Tennessee 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 falls about 4% 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 $5,840 less in their first year than other graduates. They also borrowed more. 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 $274 a month, or 8.3% 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, 41 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $24,629.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
57% of graduates (72 of 127) were working in Tennessee one year after graduating. Prices in the Knoxville area are about 7% below the national average, so a $39,733 salary here buys what about $42,923 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 allied health and medical assisting, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Medical Assistants
$39,570Median pay in Tennessee. 19,180 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 13% from 2025 to 2035, with about 109,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
Pharmacy Technicians
$41,920Median pay in Tennessee. 11,870 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 44,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.
Clinical Laboratory Technologists and Technicians
$62,070Median pay in Tennessee. 8,410 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 20,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Surgical Technologists
$60,530Median pay in Tennessee. 3,310 people work in this job in Tennessee. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 7,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
About South College
Allied Health and Medical Assisting ranks 2nd of 4 associate's programs at South College by first-year earnings. The top three are Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($44,888), Allied Health and Medical Assisting ($39,733), and Medical Laboratory Science ($30,446).
Other allied health and medical assisting associate's programs near Knoxville
Common questions
The median graduate earns $39,733 one year after graduating and $37,991 five years after. The median across allied health and medical assisting associate's programs in Tennessee is $38,847.
The median federal loan balance is $25,889, which ranks 7th lowest of 9 allied health and medical assisting associate's programs in Tennessee. That works out to about $274 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 65% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 50%. Compare the cost with other Tennessee programs before deciding.
Most do. 57% (72 of 127) were working in Tennessee 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 Tennessee 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 allied health and medical 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