Which Wisconsin business administration program has the lowest debt?

Southwest Wisconsin Technical College reports the lowest median federal debt, $11,750, with first-year pay of $40,415.

How much do business administration graduates earn in Wisconsin?

The median across 15 Wisconsin business administration associate's programs is $40,548 in the first year after graduating and $46,944 five years after.

How many business administration associate's programs are in Wisconsin?

15 Wisconsin programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 15 of them also report federal debt.

Business Administration (Associate's) Programs in Wisconsin, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

15 programs report first-year pay
15 also report federal debt
Associate's in Business Administration, Management and Operations

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Wisconsin business administration associate's program pays its graduates $40,548 in their first year, $5,933 more than the national median. Mid-State Technical College reports the highest first-year pay ($47,268), and Southwest Wisconsin Technical College the lowest median debt ($11,750).

Median first-year pay$40,548National $34,615

Median pay after 5 years$46,944National $44,516

Median federal debt$16,044National $13,418

Debt-to-earnings38%National 38%

All 15 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	Mid-State Technical CollegeWisconsin Rapids · public	$47,268	$45,333	$16,044	34%
2	Moraine Park Technical CollegeFond du Lac · public	$46,719	Not reported	$13,999	30%
3	Waukesha County Technical CollegePewaukee · public	$44,016	$52,369	$18,019	41%
4	Milwaukee Area Technical CollegeMilwaukee · public	$43,437	$48,028	$18,977	44%
5	Madison Area Technical CollegeMadison · public	$43,085	Not reported	$16,500	38%
6	Northcentral Technical CollegeWausau · public	$42,172	$45,475	$12,691	30%
7	Northwood Technical CollegeRice Lake · public	$41,564	$51,570	$12,954	31%
8	Western Technical College (Wisconsin)La Crosse · public	$40,548	$48,963	$19,532	48%
9	Southwest Wisconsin Technical CollegeFennimore · public	$40,415	$43,802	$11,750	29%
10	Northeast Wisconsin Technical CollegeGreen Bay · public	$40,091	$45,260	$16,134	40%
11	Lakeshore Technical CollegeCleveland · public	$39,684	$46,479	$13,042	33%
12	Chippewa Valley Technical CollegeEau Claire · public	$39,344	$47,889	$18,445	47%
13	Fox Valley Technical CollegeAppleton · public	$39,337	$47,408	$15,120	38%
14	Gateway Technical CollegeKenosha · public	$39,244	$49,293	$15,750	40%
15	Herzing University-MadisonMadison · private nonprofit	$30,536	$39,668	$38,807	127%

Debt and first-year pay at every Wisconsin business administration program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Wisconsin medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 15 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Mid-State Technical College$47,268
Moraine Park Technical College$46,719
Waukesha County Technical College$44,016
Milwaukee Area Technical College$43,437
Madison Area Technical College$43,085

Lowest median debt

Southwest Wisconsin Technical College$11,750
Northcentral Technical College$12,691
Northwood Technical College$12,954
Lakeshore Technical College$13,042
Moraine Park Technical College$13,999

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 business administration, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

General and Operations Managers

$118,730

Median pay in Wisconsin. 36,910 people work in this job in Wisconsin. 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.

Bottom 10%: $59,540Top 10%: $247,560

First-Line Supervisors of Office and Administrative Support Workers

$70,560

Median pay in Wisconsin. 22,950 people work in this job in Wisconsin. 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%: $47,590Top 10%: $102,440

First-Line Supervisors of Retail Sales Workers

$49,550

Median pay in Wisconsin. 17,750 people work in this job in Wisconsin. 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.

Bottom 10%: $35,040Top 10%: $76,060

Project Management Specialists

$97,580

Median pay in Wisconsin. 21,610 people work in this job in Wisconsin. 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.

Bottom 10%: $60,840Top 10%: $139,140

Common questions

Mid-State Technical College in Wisconsin Rapids reports the highest median first-year pay, $47,268. Its median federal debt is $16,044.

Business Administration (Associate's) programs in the US, ranked337 programs by pay and debt Business Administration (Bachelor's) programs in Wisconsin, ranked24 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 Wisconsin rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the business administration associate's 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