Technical Training Degrees (2026 stats)
TL;DR
Technical Training maps to BLS occupations averaging about $82,564, with roughly 50,000 workers nationwide in those roles. About 871 bachelor's completions in IPEDS 2023; modeled 10-year ROI is about 684% on median net price.
Key Statistics
Technical Training: what the data shows
Common questions about technical training degrees, answered from IPEDS, College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, and O*NET in this repository—not program marketing copy.
What is a technical training degree?
A Technical Training program is classified under NCES CIP 15.9999 in the Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians, Other field family (15.99).
Any instructional program in engineering technologies and engineering-related fields not listed above.
IPEDS counted 871 completions for this CIP in the survey year in our extract.
How long does it take to get a technical training degree?
Award levels reported to IPEDS for CIP 15.9999 in our file:
- 298 Associate (19.7% of IPEDS total)—about two years of full-time study
- 871 Bachelor's (57.7% of IPEDS total)—typically four years
- 336 Master's (22.3% of IPEDS total)—one to two years beyond a bachelor's
- 5 Doctorate (0.3% of IPEDS total)—varies by program
Time to completion depends on enrollment intensity and transfer credits; figures above describe credential type, not calendar time for every student.
What do you learn in technical training?
O*NET skill ratings for occupations mapped to this major emphasize Operations Monitoring, Repairing, Troubleshooting, Critical Thinking, Equipment Maintenance, Quality Control Analysis, and related competencies. See the Skills section for the full list in our extract.
What degree do you need?
For Electrical and Electronics Repairers (top mapped occupation), O*NET incumbent surveys in our career profile report these education credentials most often: Some college (29%), High School or Equivalent (27%), Bachelors Degree (22%). Bachelor's awards account for a majority of IPEDS completions for CIP 15.9999, but occupation data show multiple pathways.
O*NET education distributions describe incumbent workers, not minimum legal or employer requirements.
What jobs can you get with a technical training degree?
Our degree→occupation mapping links Technical Training to the BLS roles below. Employment is U.S. OEWS; median wage is national May 2024 where published in our extract.
| Occupation | U.S. employment | Median annual wage |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical and Electronics Repairers | 59,990 | $71,300 |
| Carpenters | 697,740 | $59,310 |
| HVAC Technicians | 396,870 | $59,810 |
| Plumbers | 33,580 | $48,710 |
| Electricians | 742,580 | $62,350 |
See Careers & Jobs for mean wages and industry context.
Is a technical training degree worth it?
College Scorecard national medians for the Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians, Other bachelor's program family: median debt $45,083, median earnings $81,678 four years after enrollment. Debt-to-earnings proxy: 0.68.
About 0.0% of graduates in this field family were not working and not enrolled one year after completion in Scorecard's national program medians.
Among schools reporting in our Scorecard extract, median published in-state tuition is $11,790 and median net price is $15,944.
We do not score "worth" on opinion—compare debt, earnings, wages for mapped occupations, and completion data above against your cost and career target.
Institutions
Information about the types of higher education institutions that grant degrees in Technical Training and the types of students that study this field.
Tuition Costs for Common Institutions
$11,790 Median In-State Public
$49,075 Median Out of State Private
Tuition costs for Technical Training majors are, on average, $11,790 for in-state public colleges, and $49,075 for out of state private colleges.
Tuition costs comparison for Technical Training programs.
Institutions awarding the most Technical Training degrees
| # | Institution | State | Completions |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Eastern Illinois University | IL | 338 |
| 2 | Berklee College of Music | MA | 274 |
| 3 | Pierpont Community and Technical College | WV | 184 |
| 4 | East Carolina University | NC | 165 |
| 5 | Old Dominion University | VA | 139 |
| 6 | Duke University | NC | 96 |
| 7 | Bowling Green State University-Main Campus | OH | 88 |
| 8 | Northwestern University | IL | 70 |
| 9 | Central Georgia Technical College | GA | 70 |
| 10 | University of North Carolina at Charlotte | NC | 67 |
IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), all award levels for this CIP in our extract.
Degrees Awarded Over Time
871 Total Degrees Awarded in 2023
This chart shows the number of degrees awarded in Technical Training from 2015 to 2023.
Historical trend of degrees awarded in Technical Training.
Top 5 Schools by Enrollment
| # | School | State | Enrollment |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arizona State University Campus Immersion | AZ | 64,674 |
| 2 | Ohio State University-Main Campus | OH | 45,638 |
| 3 | Purdue University-Main Campus | IN | 44,503 |
| 4 | Purdue University-Main Campus | IN | 44,503 |
| 5 | Purdue University-Main Campus | IN | 44,503 |
Schools with the largest enrollment offering Technical Training programs.
Top 5 Most Affordable Tuition
| # | School | State | Tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Taft College | CA | $1,108 |
| 2 | Taft College | CA | $1,108 |
| 3 | Lassen Community College | CA | $1,144 |
| 4 | Lassen Community College | CA | $1,144 |
| 5 | San Diego City College | CA | $1,146 |
Schools with the lowest tuition costs for Technical Training programs.
Top 5 Lowest Net Price
| # | School | State | Net Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New Mexico State University-Grants | NM | $68 |
| 2 | College of the Sequoias | CA | $480 |
| 3 | Wiregrass Georgia Technical College | GA | $614 |
| 4 | South Georgia Technical College | GA | $1,164 |
| 5 | Macomb Community College | MI | $1,618 |
Schools with the lowest average net price for Technical Training programs.
Graduation Rates
54.91% Median Graduation Rate (150% of normal time)
53.48% Average Graduation Rate
242 Institutions Reporting
37.22% - 68.13% Interquartile Range
Graduation/completion rates for Technical Training programs across institutions.
Where students complete this major (IPEDS)
Bachelor's-level completions (IPEDS Completions, award level 5) summed by institution state. State is taken from IPEDS Directory (HD2023) for each reporting institution.
Geographic concentration
The largest number of reported bachelor's completions for Technical Training is in NC (253 completions). That state represents about 29.1% of U.S. bachelor's completions reported for this CIP in the IPEDS file we use.
Among states, the highest concentration relative to all bachelor's degrees awarded in-state is NC (0.20% of that state's bachelor's completions).
Top states by count of bachelor's completions for this CIP (IPEDS).
| State | Bachelor's completions (this CIP) | % of U.S. total (this CIP) | % of state's all bachelor's |
|---|---|---|---|
| NC | 253 | 29.1% | 0.20% |
| MA | 192 | 22.0% | 0.15% |
| VA | 139 | 16.0% | 0.11% |
| OH | 100 | 11.5% | 0.07% |
| OK | 55 | 6.3% | 0.13% |
| FL | 21 | 2.4% | 0.01% |
| MI | 18 | 2.1% | 0.02% |
| AR | 16 | 1.8% | 0.05% |
| KY | 16 | 1.8% | 0.03% |
| NH | 12 | 1.4% | 0.02% |
| AL | 10 | 1.1% | 0.01% |
| IL | 9 | 1.0% | 0.01% |
| CA | 7 | 0.8% | 0.00% |
| KS | 7 | 0.8% | 0.02% |
| MD | 7 | 0.8% | 0.01% |
| SC | 7 | 0.8% | 0.01% |
| GA | 2 | 0.2% | 0.00% |
Degree Levels (IPEDS)
Completions reported to IPEDS for CIP 15.9999 in the survey year used in our extract (1,510 total across levels below).
- 298 Associate (19.7% of IPEDS total)
- 871 Bachelor's (57.7% of IPEDS total)
- 336 Master's (22.3% of IPEDS total)
- 5 Doctorate (0.3% of IPEDS total)
Source: IPEDS Completions (c2024_a), summed by award level for this CIP.
Careers & Jobs
Occupations linked to this major in our degree→career mapping, with wages and employment from processed BLS career profiles in this repo.
Across these BLS occupations, employment-weighted mean pay is about $82,564. Figures are national OEWS estimates for the occupation—not earnings of Technical Training graduates alone.
Related occupations (BLS OEWS)
| Occupation | Mean annual wage | U.S. employment |
|---|---|---|
| Electrical and Electronics Repairers | $83,913 | 59,990 |
| Carpenters | $79,963 | 697,740 |
| HVAC Technicians | $76,478 | 396,870 |
| Plumbers | $79,263 | 33,580 |
| Electricians | $88,301 | 742,580 |
Open each occupation for full career profile charts and industry breakdowns on EDsmart Data.
Program outcomes (College Scorecard)
National medians across bachelor's programs in the Engineering/Engineering-Related Technologies/Technicians, Other CIP family (3 programs reporting debt). Not specific to every Technical Training graduate.
- $45,083 median federal loan debt among completers
- $81,678 median earnings four years after enrollment (national program median)
- 0.68 debt-to-earnings ratio (Scorecard proxy)
- 0.0% of graduates not working and not enrolled one year out (program cohort)
Source: College Scorecard program-level outcomes aggregated by 4-digit CIP family.
Employment
Wages and industry mix below use BLS OEWS data for occupations linked to this major in our mapping—not a graduate earnings survey.
Yearly Income for Common Jobs
$82,285 Average Wage in Workforce
The average salary for Technical Training majors is $82,285.
Average annual salaries of the most common occupations for Technical Training majors.
Occupations by Share
50,000 2023 Workforce
The number of Technical Training graduates in the workforce has been growing.
Various jobs filled by those with a major in Technical Training by share of the total number of graduates.
Return on Investment & Value
Debt and earnings fields below come from College Scorecard where present in our degree extract.
Financial value (extract)
$18,750 Median Student Debt
$50,000 Median Annual Earnings (10 years after enrollment)
37.50% Debt-to-Earnings Ratio
3.8 years Estimated Payback Period (assuming 10% of income)
683.99% Return on Investment (10-year earnings vs 4-year cost)
Ten-year earnings in this extract exceed four years of median net price.
$63,776 Estimated Total Cost (4 years at median net price)
Financial value comparison for Technical Training degree.
Diversity
Demographic information for those who earn a degree in Technical Training in the United States.
Workforce Age
40.0 Average Age in 2023
This chart shows distribution of ages for employees with a degree in Technical Training.
Age distribution for Technical Training degree holders in the workforce.
Gender Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
871 Total Degrees Awarded
711 Male (81.63%)
160 Female (18.37%)
Gender distribution of Technical Training degree recipients.
Race and Ethnicity Distribution
Counts below are bachelor's-level completions only (IPEDS Completions, award level 5).
525 White (60.28%)
97 Hispanic or Latino (11.14%)
74 Black or African American (8.50%)
30 Two or More Races (3.44%)
26 Asian (2.99%)
Racial and ethnic distribution of Technical Training degree recipients.
Degrees Awarded
The most common degree types awarded to students graduating in Technical Training are Bachelors Degree, Masters Degree, and Associates Degree.
Distribution of degree types awarded in Technical Training.
Skills
Data on the critical and distinctive skills necessary for those working in the Technical Training field from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Required Skills
Technical Training majors need many skills, but most especially Critical Thinking, Active Listening, and Reading Comprehension.
Rating of how necessary various skills are for Technical Training majors.
Skills Bar Chart
This bar chart shows the same information as the radar chart, displaying the importance of each skill.
Skill importance ratings for Technical Training majors.
About
Any instructional program in engineering technologies and engineering-related fields not listed above.
In 2023, 871 degrees were awarded across all undergraduate and graduate programs in Technical Training.
CIP Code
15.9999 - Technical Training
What the data shows
At the program-family level, College Scorecard reports median debt of $45,083 for bachelor's completers and median earnings near $81,678, a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.68. Those figures describe national program cohorts in this CIP family—not every individual Technical Training graduate.
Men earned 23.7% of 2,247 Technical Training completions in the IPEDS file used here.
Mapped BLS occupations show employment-weighted mean pay of about $82,564. The largest mapped role by headcount is Electrical and Electronics Repairers (59,990 U.S. jobs in OEWS).
Published tuition medians in College Scorecard land at $11,790 in-state at public colleges and $49,075 at private institutions for programs in this field.
Data Sources
This page uses data from the following sources:
- College Scorecard - U.S. Department of Education
- Institutional characteristics, costs, completion rates, and earnings data
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: collegescorecard.ed.gov
- Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS)
- Employment and wage data by occupation
- Latest data: May 2024
- Source: bls.gov/oes
- O*NET Online - U.S. Department of Labor
- Occupational skills, knowledge, abilities, and work activities
- Database version: 28.0 (August 2023)
- Source: onetcenter.org
- IPEDS (Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System) - National Center for Education Statistics
- Institutional data, completions, enrollment, and financial aid
- Data years: 2015-2024
- Source: nces.ed.gov/ipeds
- Census Bureau American Community Survey (ACS)
- Demographic and workforce data
- Latest data: 2023 ACS 5-Year Estimates
- Source: census.gov/acs
Data Processing: All data has been processed, cleaned, and aggregated for presentation. Where specific data points are unavailable, estimates are based on available data and clearly marked.
Last Updated: Data reflects the most recent available information as of January 2025.
Methodology
Data for this profile is sourced from the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard dataset, IPEDS completion data, and Bureau of Labor Statistics employment data.
All financial figures are adjusted for inflation and represent the most recent available data. Employment and wage data are from the most recent Census Bureau ACS PUMS estimates.