St Petersburg College Dental Hygiene and Assisting (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Dental Support Services and Allied Professions
- Public college
- St. Petersburg, FL
- About 21 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
St Petersburg College dental hygiene and assisting graduates earn more than graduates of most dental hygiene and assisting programs nationally, $62,093 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $26,556 in federal loans, more than at 85% of dental hygiene and assisting programs in the country. Several Florida programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Florida and national columns are the medians across all dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, St Petersburg College graduates earn more than the national figure and about $3,186 more than the Florida median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Florida dental hygiene and assisting program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Florida 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 1% 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 $282 a month, or 5.4% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
88% of graduates (30 of 34) were working in Florida one year after graduating. Prices in the Tampa area are about 1% above the national average, so a $62,093 salary here buys what about $61,545 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
$47,620Median pay in Florida. 26,620 people work in this job in Florida. 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
$91,980Median pay in Florida. 11,980 people work in this job in Florida. 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
$59,790Median pay in Florida. 2,330 people work in this job in Florida. 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 St Petersburg College
Dental Hygiene and Assisting ranks 3rd of 12 associate's programs at St Petersburg College by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($67,220), Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($62,187), and Dental Hygiene and Assisting ($62,093).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $62,093 one year after graduating and $62,626 five years after. The median across dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs in Florida is $57,278.
The median federal loan balance is $26,556, which ranks 5th lowest of 5 dental hygiene and assisting associate's programs in Florida. That works out to about $282 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 43% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 36%. Compare the cost with other Florida programs before deciding.
Most do. 88% (30 of 34) were working in Florida 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 Florida 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