Undergraduate certificate · Pleasant Gap, Pennsylvania

Is Heavy/Industrial Equipment Maintenance Technologies/Technicians at Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and Technology worth it?

Medium confidence Medium confidence: 40–99 graduates behind the earnings figures.

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

Pays back fast: graduates typically recover the cost in about 0.9 years.

Earnings 1 year after graduating: $52,478; Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Earnings 4 years after graduating: $55,586; Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Typical federal debt at graduation: $4,400; NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
Net cost to graduate, all families: $10k (likely $10k – $10k); AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
Earnings bump, year 4: $16k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in PA; 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
Payback: 0.9 years (likely 0.6–1.7); Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
10-year net return: $112k (likely $41k – $194k); Today's dollars
20-year net return: $283k (likely $137k – $462k); Today's dollars
Odds of finishing (school-wide): 99%; Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26