Southern Careers Institute-Austin Accounting (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Accounting and Related Services
- Private for-profit school
- Austin, TX
- About 1 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Southern Careers Institute-Austin accounting graduates earn less than graduates of most accounting programs nationally, $22,081 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $8,507 in federal loans, less than at 83% of accounting programs in the country. Debt is low, but pay is also below the Texas median of $34,667.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Texas and national columns are the medians across all accounting certificate programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Southern Careers Institute-Austin graduates earn less than the national figure and about $24,656 less than the Texas median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Texas accounting program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Texas 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 23% 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 $90 a month, or 4.9% 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, 28 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $5,022.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
93% of graduates (321 of 344) were working in Texas one year after graduating. Prices in the Austin area are about 2% below the national average, so a $22,081 salary here buys what about $22,516 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 accounting, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Accountants and Auditors
$80,920Median pay in Texas. 116,470 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 115,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Bookkeeping, Accounting, and Auditing Clerks
$48,910Median pay in Texas. 122,400 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 144,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: some college, no degree.
Financial Managers
$164,860Median pay in Texas. 71,870 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 65,600 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
Financial and Investment Analysts
$99,150Median pay in Texas. 28,820 people work in this job in Texas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 24,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Southern Careers Institute-Austin
Accounting ranks 7th of 10 certificate programs at Southern Careers Institute-Austin by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer and Information Science ($52,079), Environmental Control Technology ($32,421), and Software and Media Applications ($31,841).
Other accounting certificate programs near Austin
Common questions
The median graduate earns $22,081 one year after graduating and $27,062 five years after. The median across accounting certificate programs in Texas is $34,667.
The median federal loan balance is $8,507, which ranks 2nd lowest of 5 accounting certificate programs in Texas. That works out to about $90 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 39% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 40%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 5–9%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Texas programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 93% (321 of 344) were working in Texas 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 Texas 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 accounting 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