Tidewater Community College Business Administration (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Business Administration, Management and Operations
- Public college
- Norfolk, VA
- About 264 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Tidewater Community College business administration graduates earn about what business administration graduates earn nationally, $35,919 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $11,950 in federal loans, close to the national median of $13,418. Several Virginia programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Virginia and national columns are the medians across all business administration associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Tidewater Community College graduates earn more than the national figure and about the same as the Virginia median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Virginia business administration program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Virginia 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 35% 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 $4,279 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 $127 a month, or 4.2% 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, 20 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $10,176.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
90% of graduates (141 of 157) were working in Virginia one year after graduating. Prices in the Virginia Beach area are about 2% below the national average, so a $35,919 salary here buys what about $36,674 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 business administration, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
General and Operations Managers
$122,080Median pay in Virginia. 103,590 people work in this job in Virginia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 285,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.
First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers
$67,170Median pay in Virginia. 35,160 people work in this job in Virginia. Nationally, jobs are projected to stay about the same in number from 2025 to 2035, with about 127,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers
$47,990Median pay in Virginia. 32,250 people work in this job in Virginia. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 113,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Project Management Specialists
$120,840Median pay in Virginia. 43,860 people work in this job in Virginia. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 7% from 2025 to 2035, with about 76,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
About Tidewater Community College
Business Administration ranks 8th of 21 associate's programs at Tidewater Community College by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($69,764), Engineering ($68,555), and Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($62,524).
Other business administration associate's programs near Norfolk
Common questions
The median graduate earns $35,919 one year after graduating and $48,451 five years after. The median across business administration associate's programs in Virginia is $35,785.
The median federal loan balance is $11,950, which ranks 6th lowest of 9 business administration associate's programs in Virginia. That works out to about $127 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 33% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 38%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 10% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Virginia programs report higher pay.
Most do. 90% (141 of 157) were working in Virginia 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 Virginia 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 business administration 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