College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

Lake Area Technical College

Watertown, SD · Public · Associate-granting · 1,812 undergrads

Do students finish?

73% complete

Most students who start here finish.

For 2-year colleges this undercounts students who transfer to a 4-year school before finishing here.

What does it cost?

$19,637/yr net

Average annual price after grants & scholarships.

What former students go on to earn

The middle 50% of students who received federal aid, measured 10 years after they entered (an earlier entering class — not a guarantee, and not limited to those who graduated). Earnings vary enormously by field of study.

$45,473 median, 10 yrs after entry

25th pct $29,962 median $45,473 75th pct $62,719

67% earn more than a typical high-school graduate (the dashed line above, $28,000 — a fixed, somewhat dated federal benchmark) ten years on.

Your major matters more than your school

The school-wide figure above blends every major together — but pay varies enormously by program. Pick a degree level (and search your major) to compare like-for-like.

Read these on their own terms. Program pay is measured 1 year after completing the program (early career, graduates only) — not the same as the school-wide number above, which is 10 years after a student first enrolled. Don't compare a program figure to the school figure; use the programs to compare majors to each other.

14 Associate's programs · $22,590 to $57,596 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt

Industrial Production Technologies/Technicians.Associate's $57,596 —

Construction Engineering Technology/Technician.Associate's $48,971 $12,000

Electromechanical Technologies/Technicians.Associate's $45,799 $12,000

Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Technologies/Technicians.Associate's $41,649 $12,000

Computer Science.Associate's $41,208 —

Precision Metal Working.Associate's $37,581 $11,000

Agricultural Business and Management.Associate's $36,747 $12,000

Criminal Justice and Corrections.Associate's $36,699 $12,000

Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science/Research and Allied Professions.Associate's $36,262 —

Finance and Financial Management Services.Associate's $35,711 $12,000

Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services.Associate's $32,677 $12,000

Building/Construction Finishing, Management, and Inspection.Associate's $31,150 $12,000

Marketing.Associate's $29,474 $12,000

Human Services, General.Associate's $22,590 $11,273

The Dept. of Education omits programs with too few graduates (to protect privacy), so not every major appears. Pay is a median for federally-aided graduates. Full program detail on the official Scorecard.

Typical federal loan debt

$9,888

≈ 22% of one year's typical earnings here

This counts federal student loans only — not private loans, Parent PLUS loans, or family savings, so the true cost of borrowing is usually higher.

What these numbers are — and are not

Every figure here is an institution-wide median from the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard. It is not a prediction of what you would earn or owe — a computer-science and a fine-arts graduate of the same school can earn wildly different amounts, and your field of study matters more than your school. It is not a figure for any one program, not proof the school caused the outcome (selective schools admit students who would earn more anyway), and not a "best college" ranking. Earnings and debt cover federally-aided students.

→ The number that actually answers "worth it" is earnings by major — see the by-major breakdown above (17 programs at this school).

Also available: structured data (JSON-LD) · plain text · JSON. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (2026-06-10 release). · school website