Compiled by PlainCollege, College outcomes data analysis
49
Schools
Associate's
Credential Level
-
National Avg Earnings
What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Food Science and Technology
Food Science and Technology is tracked across 49 U.S. postsecondary institutions in the College Scorecard field-of-study file, which links CIP code classifications from IPEDS to Treasury earnings records. This profile covers the associate's credential level specifically, because the Department of Education reports program-level outcomes separately for associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral awards. The CIP (Classification of Instructional Programs) taxonomy lets analysts roll up specialties into broader families, which is why earnings medians across schools can be compared on a common basis.
A national average earnings figure is not available for this field because too few institutions publish the cohort. These numbers reflect Treasury-derived wages, deferred compensation, and positive self-employment earnings four years after completion for federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled.
Variation across schools matters more than a single national figure. Completer counts and earnings cohort counts are distinct source fields, so the displayed completer count should not be assumed to be the earnings denominator. PlainCollege's debt-to-earnings ratio divides median federal debt by annual median earnings as a descriptive comparison; it is not the Department's formal gainful-employment test. Use the school-by-school table to compare reported outcomes while accounting for cohort size, suppression, program mix, and location.
Walla Walla Community College accounts for 72.0% of all Food Science and Technology associate's credential graduates
Walla Walla Community College accounts for nearly the entire Food Science and Technology total — well above the 5% national median for largest-entity share, so a Food Science and Technology-wide average is effectively a description of Walla Walla Community College alone, not a genuine cross-entity picture — read every other entity's figures independently, not against this aggregate. That school produced 18 graduates in the most recent cohort, anchoring a meaningful slice of national supply for this field. For practical purposes, Walla Walla Community College's decisions ARE Food Science and Technology's decisions for the affected population.
Food Science and Technology operates only 49 institutions offer this program — among the most consolidated governance structures in the country
Most Food Science and Technology institutions offer this program are specialty-program scarcity that concentrates national supply in a small set of institutions, graduates often command stronger employer attention because the talent pool is structurally narrower. Consolidation produces narrower variance because resources pool across larger populations, but it can also mask intra-institutions offer this program inequities — sub-institutions offer this program differences within a single institutions offer this program are not visible at this aggregation level. Consolidated systems typically rely more heavily on top-down funding formulas than on local revenue variability.
Awards and earnings come from different reference periods, so they are not a count and an
average of the same people. Awards is the number of credentials the school reported for the
latest IPEDS year; median earnings is measured four years after completion, for a separate
pooled cohort of earlier graduates. A school can therefore report zero awards in the latest
year and still have earnings on record. The earnings figure is not the awards figure’s
average, and the awards count is not the earnings sample size. Schools are ranked on the
four-year earnings figure only, so every row is compared on the same basis.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do Food Science and Technology graduates earn? ▼
Food Science and Technology graduates earn varies on average four years after completion, across the 0 of 49 schools that report earnings for this program.
What credential do you get in Food Science and Technology? ▼
Food Science and Technology programs typically award a Associate's credential. Earnings vary by school and credential level.
Top Schools for Food Science and Technology
Closest schools offering this program – compare earnings side by side
Earnings data comes from the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Field of Study file retrieved in March 2026. The program metric displayed here represents federally aided completers who were working and not enrolled four years after credential completion, using Treasury-derived records published through the Scorecard. Completer counts and debt figures come from the same field-of-study snapshot; the Department refreshes components on schedules documented in its changelog, not one fixed annual date.