College Scorecard · cost, debt & earnings

Tennessee College of Applied Technology-Elizabethton

Elizabethton, TN · Public · Certificate-granting · 546 undergrads

Do students finish?

81% 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?

$8,568/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.

$35,069 median, 10 yrs after entry

25th pct $20,356 median $35,069 75th pct $49,422

45% 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.

9 Certificate programs · $16,170 to $34,760 (1 yr out)

MajorPay · 1yr outMedian debt

Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants.Certificate $34,760 —

Precision Metal Working.Certificate $34,365 —

Dietetics and Clinical Nutrition Services.Certificate $28,538 —

Heating, Air Conditioning, Ventilation and Refrigeration Maintenance Technology/Technician (HAC, HACR, HVAC, HVACR).Certificate $28,100 —

Vehicle Maintenance and Repair Technologies/Technicians.Certificate $24,597 —

Electrical/Electronics Maintenance and Repair Technologies/Technicians.Certificate $23,122 —

Plumbing and Related Water Supply Services.Certificate $21,458 —

Heavy/Industrial Equipment Maintenance Technologies/Technicians.Certificate $18,967 —

Business Operations Support and Assistant Services.Certificate $16,170 —

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.

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 (9 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