Which California office administration program has the lowest debt?

CET-San Jose reports the lowest median federal debt, $5,894, with first-year pay of $23,009.

How much do office administration graduates earn in California?

The median across 11 California office administration certificate programs is $25,145 in the first year after graduating and $27,888 five years after.

How many office administration certificate programs are in California?

11 California programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 7 of them also report federal debt.

Office Administration (Certificate) Programs in California, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

11 programs report first-year pay
7 also report federal debt
Certificate in Business Operations Support and Assistant Services

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median California office administration certificate program pays its graduates $25,145 in their first year, $759 less than the national median. Central Coast College reports the highest first-year pay ($34,301), and CET-San Jose the lowest median debt ($5,894).

Median first-year pay$25,145National $25,904

Median pay after 5 years$27,888National $28,266

Median federal debt$9,500National $9,500

Debt-to-earnings36%National 46%

All 11 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Central Coast CollegeSalinas · private for-profit	$34,301	$41,316	Not reported	Not reported
2	Milan Institute-VisaliaVisalia · private for-profit	$27,868	Not reported	$7,499	27%
3	San Joaquin Valley College-VisaliaVisalia · private for-profit	$27,731	$35,845	$9,500	34%
4	Glendale Career CollegeGlendale · private for-profit	$27,134	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
5	UEI College-GardenaGardena · private for-profit	$26,109	$29,804	$9,500	36%
6	Stellar Career CollegeModesto · private for-profit	$25,145	$27,888	Not reported	Not reported
7	UEI College-Huntington ParkHuntington Park · private for-profit	$25,094	$28,439	$9,500	38%
8	Riverside County Office of Education-School of Career EducationRiverside · public	$23,475	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
9	CET-San JoseSan Jose · private nonprofit	$23,009	$27,178	$5,894	26%
10	UEI College-FresnoFresno · private for-profit	$17,210	$26,269	$9,500	55%
11	Diversified Vocational CollegeLos Angeles · private for-profit	$12,153	$23,982	$9,500	78%

Central Coast College, Glendale Career College, Stellar Career College, and Riverside County Office of Education-School of Career Education report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay. One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every California office administration 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 the 7 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Central Coast College$34,301
Milan Institute-Visalia$27,868
San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia$27,731
Glendale Career College$27,134
UEI College-Gardena$26,109

Lowest median debt

CET-San Jose$5,894
Milan Institute-Visalia$7,499
San Joaquin Valley College-Visalia$9,500
UEI College-Gardena$9,500
UEI College-Huntington Park$9,500

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

Careers this field leads to

These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to office administration, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Customer Service Representatives

$49,560

Median pay in California. 176,850 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 5% from 2025 to 2035, with about 289,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.

Bottom 10%: $38,110Top 10%: $75,700

Office Clerks, General

$48,460

Median pay in California. 311,490 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 249,000 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.

Bottom 10%: $36,190Top 10%: $73,220

Secretaries and Administrative Assistants, Except Legal, Medical, and Executive

$55,400

Median pay in California. 158,630 people work in this job in California. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 163,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: high school diploma or equivalent.

Bottom 10%: $38,060Top 10%: $78,170

First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

$77,590

Median pay in California. 149,230 people work in this job in California. 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.

Bottom 10%: $50,870Top 10%: $121,650

Common questions

Central Coast College in Salinas reports the highest median first-year pay, $34,301.

Office Administration (Certificate) programs in the US, ranked46 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
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 rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the office administration certificate programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

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
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024