What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Ground Transportation
Ground Transportation is tracked across 15 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.
Across all reporting institutions, the mean of school-level medians is $60,176, calculated from 3 schools with published earnings data. The top-reporting institution in this program is Northwest Iowa Community College at $72,286. These numbers reflect earnings measured roughly a year after completion, using Social Security Administration tax records linked to federal financial aid applicants.
Variation across schools matters more than a single national figure. Completers counts reported per school indicate how many graduates’ earnings feed the median, which means small programs produce more volatile numbers. Median debt at the program level, when paired with earnings, yields a debt-to-earnings ratio that is the College Scorecard’s standard affordability signal — ratios under 1.0 indicate earnings exceed cumulative debt. Use the school-by-school table to spot institutions where Ground Transportation graduates out-earn peers at comparable cost, and to surface gainful-employment patterns that only become visible at the CIP-code level.
Pennsylvania College of Technology accounts for 68.6% of all Ground Transportation associate's credential graduates
That concentration — well above the 5% national median for largest-entity share — means Ground Transportation-wide averages can mask substantial variation outside the dominant entity. That school produced 24 graduates in the most recent cohort, anchoring a meaningful slice of national supply for this field. When one entity dominates a region's footprint, its programmatic and budget decisions effectively set policy for a majority of the affected population.
Ground Transportation debt-to-earnings ratio is 0.19 — low (typically associated with graduates earn substantially more than they borrowed, which is the College Scorecard standard signal for affordability — a ratio under 0.5 means a year of post-completion earnings would clear half the federal-loan principal)
debt-to-earnings ratio is the simplest comparative metric but it does not capture the full picture: this ratio uses federal loan principal, not all education debt — private loans, parent PLUS loans not in the borrower’s name, and institutional debt are excluded Lower values often correlate with smaller scale and population characteristics rather than higher resource budgets per se.
Ground Transportation operates only 15 institutions offer this program — among the most consolidated governance structures in the country
Most Ground Transportation 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.
How much do Ground Transportation graduates earn? ▼
Ground Transportation graduates earn $60,176 on average across 15 schools.
Which school pays the most for Ground Transportation? ▼
Northwest Iowa Community College has the highest reported median earnings for Ground Transportation graduates at $72,286, based on College Scorecard data.
What credential do you get in Ground Transportation? ▼
Ground Transportation programs typically award a Associate's credential. Earnings vary by school and credential level.
Top Schools for Ground Transportation
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. Median earnings represent graduates who received federal financial aid, drawn from U.S. Treasury tax records linked to federal student aid applicants. Completers count and debt figures reflect program-level data reported through IPEDS. Data is updated annually.