Which Wisconsin information technology program has the lowest debt?

Northwood Technical College reports the lowest median federal debt, $6,453, with first-year pay of $41,473.

How much do information technology graduates earn in Wisconsin?

The median across 7 Wisconsin information technology associate's programs is $43,909 in the first year after graduating and $52,085 five years after.

How many information technology associate's programs are in Wisconsin?

7 Wisconsin programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 5 of them also report federal debt.

Information Technology (Associate's) Programs in Wisconsin, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

7 programs report first-year pay
5 also report federal debt
Associate's in Computer/Information Technology Administration and Management

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Wisconsin information technology associate's program pays its graduates $43,909 in their first year, $2,954 more than the national median. Madison Area Technical College reports the highest first-year pay ($54,784), and Northwood Technical College the lowest median debt ($6,453).

Median first-year pay$43,909National $40,955

Median pay after 5 years$52,085National $52,657

Median federal debt$15,516National $17,665

Debt-to-earnings35%National 44%

All 7 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	$54,784	Not reported	$19,250	35%
2	Waukesha County Technical CollegePewaukee · public	$46,450	Not reported	$17,500	38%
3	Western Technical College (Wisconsin)La Crosse · public	$45,077	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
4	Fox Valley Technical CollegeAppleton · public	$43,909	$52,085	$13,375	30%
5	Northcentral Technical CollegeWausau · public	$42,321	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
6	Northwood Technical CollegeRice Lake · public	$41,473	Not reported	$6,453	16%
7	Gateway Technical CollegeKenosha · public	$38,668	$50,870	$16,157	42%

Western Technical College (Wisconsin) and Northcentral Technical College 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 Wisconsin information technology 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 5 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Madison Area Technical College$54,784
Waukesha County Technical College$46,450
Western Technical College (Wisconsin)$45,077
Fox Valley Technical College$43,909
Northcentral Technical College$42,321

Lowest median debt

Northwood Technical College$6,453
Fox Valley Technical College$13,375
Gateway Technical College$16,157
Waukesha County Technical College$17,500
Madison Area Technical College$19,250

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 information technology, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.

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

Computer User Support Specialists

$58,810

Median pay in Wisconsin. 12,400 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 39,700 openings a year. Typical education to start: some college, no degree.

Bottom 10%: $43,260Top 10%: $82,100

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

Network and Computer Systems Administrators

$83,650

Median pay in Wisconsin. 8,470 people work in this job in Wisconsin. Nationally, jobs are projected to shrink 4% from 2025 to 2035, with about 13,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.

Bottom 10%: $58,950Top 10%: $128,580

Common questions

Madison Area Technical College in Madison reports the highest median first-year pay, $54,784. Its median federal debt is $19,250.

Information Technology (Associate's) programs in the US, ranked63 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 information technology 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