Undergraduate certificate · Tempe, Arizona

Is Audiovisual Communications Technologies/Technicians at Conservatory of Recording Arts and Sciences worth it?

High confidence High confidence: 100+ graduates behind the earnings figures.

The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans

Pays back slowly: graduates typically recover the cost in about 18.8 years.

Earnings 1 year after graduating: $34,137; Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Earnings 4 years after graduating: $40,340; Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Typical federal debt at graduation: $7,924; NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
Net cost to graduate, all families: $25k (likely $25k – $34k); AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
Earnings bump, year 4: $345 a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in AZ; 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
Payback: 18.8 years (likely 11.7–20+); Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
10-year net return: −$76k (likely −$101k – −$53k); Today's dollars
20-year net return: −$40k (likely −$106k – $26k); Today's dollars
Odds of finishing (school-wide): 54%; Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26