ROI Major

Environmental Control Technologies at Saint Philip's College

TX · Associate's Degree · CIP 15.05

Apply Now Data: 2026 release

Executive Summary

Graduates with a Environmental Control Technologies degree from Saint Philip's College earn a median salary of $58,734 within five years of graduation. Adjusted for the cost of living in TX, this represents a national purchasing power equivalent of $63,772. The degree typically pays for itself in 9.2 years.

Quick Insights

Slow Burn / High Debt Risk

How this degree looks at a glance

A fast read on salary range, break-even speed, living-cost impact, and where graduates from this school usually land.

Salary Ranges

Starting Range

$45,888

Typical Career

$58,734

Top Performers

$80,834

Estimated break-even: 9.2 years.

Debt-to-Income Check

$392

Estimated comfortable monthly loan payment

Typical monthly pay is approximately $4,895. Most students can comfortably afford about a $392 monthly loan payment with this degree.

Comparison Bench

This degree earns 1.5x more than the average US high school graduate and 0.8x more than the average college graduate.

Purchasing Power Context

A dollar in Texas buys what costs $0.92 nationally.

Industry Breadcrumbs

Top industries for bachelor's graduates from this school: Health Care & Social Assistance, Educational Services, Retail Trade.

Where Associate's Graduates from This School Work

Health Care & Social Assistance 36.0%
Educational Services 11.1%
Retail Trade 7.4%

Institution-wide industry mix for graduates, 5 years after graduation. This is not major-specific. Source: Census PSEO Flows.

5-Year Median Salary — National Purchasing Power Equivalent

$63,772

Nominal: $58,734 in Texas (COL 92.1% of national avg) · 8.6% higher purchasing power

10-Year Earnings Curve

Break-Even Timeline

How long until cumulative earnings advantage exceeds total college investment (tuition + opportunity cost vs. entering workforce directly after high school).

9.2 years to break even
Graduation 15 years

Total Investment

$155,168

4yr tuition + 4yr opportunity cost

HS Graduate Baseline

$38,792/yr

BLS 2023 median, HS diploma

View Raw Data: Median Earnings by Year
Timeframe 25th Pct. Median (50th) 75th Pct.
1 Year After Graduation $35,115 $44,276 $58,974
5 Years After Graduation $45,888 $58,734 $80,834
10 Years After Graduation $45,751 $62,818 $91,987

Source: US Census Bureau Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO), 2025 release. Earnings shown for Bachelor's degree graduates (all cohorts combined).

How We Calculate Purchasing Power

The median salary of $58,734 is reported by the US Census Bureau's Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO) dataset for graduates working in TX, which has a cost-of-living index of 92.1% of the national average.

Formula: Adjusted Salary = Nominal × (1.0 ÷ COL Index)
= $58,734 × (1.0 ÷ 0.9210) = $63,772 National Average equivalent.

COL index source: BLS Regional Consumer Price Index & MIT Living Wage Project, 2023. Full methodology →

Career Verdict

Graduates of the Environmental Control Technologies program at Saint Philip's College can expect a positive earnings trajectory. The median earnings one year after graduation stand at $39,527, increasing to $51,096 after five years and reaching $54,665 by the ten-year mark. When adjusted for purchasing power, the five-year salary aligns with a national equivalent of $55,478.83, indicating that graduates maintain a competitive financial standing relative to their peers across the country, despite the lower cost of living in Texas.

The primary industries for graduates are predominantly in Health Care & Social Assistance, with 75.5% entering this sector. This concentration suggests a robust demand for skills in environmental control technologies within health-related fields. The estimated break-even point compared to a high-school-only path is approximately 13.2 years, indicating a reasonable return on investment for those pursuing this educational path. Overall, the program appears to offer a solid career trajectory and a favorable return on investment in the long term.

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Data sources: US Census Bureau Post-Secondary Employment Outcomes (PSEO). Cost-of-living index: BLS Regional CPI & MIT Living Wage Project. Cost of attendance: IPEDS. For informational use only; data may be suppressed for small cohort sizes.