Which Wisconsin computer networking program has the lowest debt?

Fox Valley Technical College reports the lowest median federal debt, $11,500, with first-year pay of $37,984.

How much do computer networking graduates earn in Wisconsin?

The median across 9 Wisconsin computer networking associate's programs is $43,276 in the first year after graduating and $59,359 five years after.

How many computer networking associate's programs are in Wisconsin?

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

Computer Networking (Associate's) Programs in Wisconsin, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

9 programs report first-year pay
7 also report federal debt
Associate's in Computer Systems Networking and Telecommunications

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Wisconsin computer networking associate's program pays its graduates $43,276 in their first year, $2,110 more than the national median. Madison Area Technical College reports the highest first-year pay ($65,324), and Fox Valley Technical College the lowest median debt ($11,500).

Median first-year pay$43,276National $41,166

Median pay after 5 years$59,359National $54,214

Median federal debt$15,832National $17,908

Debt-to-earnings35%National 42%

All 9 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	Madison Area Technical CollegeMadison · public	$65,324	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
2	Chippewa Valley Technical CollegeEau Claire · public	$47,268	$61,304	$13,500	29%
3	Western Technical College (Wisconsin)La Crosse · public	$45,381	$63,992	$15,832	35%
4	Herzing University-MadisonMadison · private nonprofit	$43,901	$50,860	$30,649	70%
5	Milwaukee Area Technical CollegeMilwaukee · public	$43,276	$58,674	$22,944	53%
6	Southwest Wisconsin Technical CollegeFennimore · public	$42,729	$59,310	Not reported	Not reported
7	Gateway Technical CollegeKenosha · public	$41,942	$50,095	$22,500	54%
8	Lakeshore Technical CollegeCleveland · public	$40,086	Not reported	$12,722	32%
9	Fox Valley Technical CollegeAppleton · public	$37,984	$59,359	$11,500	30%

Madison Area Technical College and Southwest Wisconsin Technical College report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every Wisconsin computer networking 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 7 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Madison Area Technical College$65,324
Chippewa Valley Technical College$47,268
Western Technical College (Wisconsin)$45,381
Herzing University-Madison$43,901
Milwaukee Area Technical College$43,276

Lowest median debt

Fox Valley Technical College$11,500
Lakeshore Technical College$12,722
Chippewa Valley Technical College$13,500
Western Technical College (Wisconsin)$15,832
Gateway Technical College$22,500

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 computer networking, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

Software Developers

$122,660

Median pay in Wisconsin. 21,730 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 95,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $77,710Top 10%: $168,630

Computer and Information Systems Managers

$160,140

Median pay in Wisconsin. 8,880 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 16% from 2025 to 2035, with about 53,500 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus 5 years or more of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $99,260Top 10%: $230,980

Computer Systems Analysts

$100,440

Median pay in Wisconsin. 8,340 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 8% from 2025 to 2035, with about 32,900 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $66,700Top 10%: $132,270

Information Security Analysts

$101,550

Median pay in Wisconsin. 2,130 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 21% from 2025 to 2035, with about 14,100 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.

Bottom 10%: $62,110Top 10%: $162,260

Common questions

Madison Area Technical College in Madison reports the highest median first-year pay, $65,324.

Computer Networking (Associate's) programs in the US, ranked43 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 computer networking 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