What this does
This page lists every non-degree route into one career in your state, in one table: what the route is, who provides it, how long until the cost is earned back, entry and typical pay, and the direct cost. Its heading reads Best Non-Degree Pathways For [career].
It helps a student see what it costs to get started in a career without a four-year degree and how soon that cost pays off. It helps a parent compare a license or a two-year program on cost and pay. It helps a counselor show the options for one career on one screen.
Before you start
- The page needs a state and a career. With no state chosen you see Pick a state to see this pathway. and the Showing data for menu. See Choosing a state.
- You reach it from another page that already knows the career:
- a card on Non-Degree Pathways (Open all non-degree pathways for this career →);
- the Pathway menu on a career's detail page, set to Non-degree (cert / apprenticeship);
- the link check Non-Degree Pathways → on a career's degrees page, shown when the career has no degree routes.
- What you will find depends on the state. Every state with school data lists immediate-entry and on-the-job-training routes and the certificate and associate programs at its schools. Texas adds licenses, professional certifications and apprenticeships (see Non-Degree Pathways).
Step by step
- Open the page from one of the links above. While the table loads you see Loading data — this may take a moment on first load….
- Check the heading: Best Non-Degree Pathways For [career]. If it reads Selected Career, the career name was not passed along, but the table is still for the right career.
- Read the table from the top. Each row is one route, with its provider and city under the title.
- Compare Break-Even across rows: Immediate means there is no cost to recover, [n] mo is the months until the route has paid for itself.
- Compare Entry and Median pay with Direct Cost.
- To put routes side by side with time to entry and paid training shown, open Compare Non-Degree Paths and pick up to five. To go back to the directory, click Non-Degree in the top menu.
Every control explained
The page has no filters or sorting. Everything you can click is listed here, including the two links on other pages that lead here.
| Control | Where | What it changes | Default | Tips |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Showing data for | Above the heading | Reloads the page for another state, for the same career. | The state you chose last | Routes and pay are for the state shown. |
| Column headings (Pathway, Tier, Break-Even, Entry, Median, Direct Cost) | Table | Nothing: the table cannot be re-sorted. | Listed by outcome measures | A column where every row is empty or "—" is hidden. |
| Table rows | Table | Nothing: rows are not links. | — | On a phone each row becomes a card with the column name next to each value. |
| Pathway → Non-degree (cert / apprenticeship) | A career's detail page | Opens this page for that career. | All | The other choices stay on the career page. |
| check Non-Degree Pathways → | A career's degrees page, when no degree routes exist | Opens this page for that career. | — | |
| Non-Degree menu link | Top menu | Back to the directory of all routes. | — | Your state is kept. |
| Report a problem | Page footer | Opens an email to Samantar with the page name filled in. | — | Name the career and the row. |
Reading the results
Rows are listed by outcome measures, strongest first: median pay, entry pay, how fast the cost is recovered, direct cost, time to entry and whether the training is paid. The page's introduction calls this "the strongest modeled ROI at the top".
| Column | Meaning | Unit | Source and year | How it is computed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathway | The route in bold; below it the provider (school, licensing or certifying body, Immediate entry or Employer-trained) and, for schools, · [city] | Text | See the sources table below | As recorded |
| Tier | Route type: Zero Barrier, Brief On-the-Job Training, Certificate / Credential, Associate Degree or License / Credential | Text | — | Set by the source |
| Break-Even (cost recovery) | How long until the route has paid for itself: Immediate, [n] mo, or — | Whole months | Built from the cost, time and entry pay below | See "How break-even works" |
| Entry | Starting pay in the career | Dollars a year | BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics for your state, May 2024 | The 25th percentile of yearly pay: a quarter of workers earn less |
| Median | Typical pay in the career | Dollars a year | Same survey; for Texas licenses, the Texas median wage recorded in the license table | Half of workers earn more, half less |
| Direct Cost | Out-of-pocket cost to get in | Dollars, whole route | See the sources table below | $0 for immediate-entry and on-the-job routes; — for a school program whose school has no tuition on record |
Pay is for the career, not the route, so every row for the same career usually shows the same Entry and Median. When BLS has no current figure for your state, the site uses an earlier state figure, then the national figure.
Cost and time to entry, by route type
Time to entry is not a column on this page, but it shapes Break-Even. Compare Non-Degree Paths shows it as Time To Entry.
| Route type | Direct Cost | Time to entry | Paid training |
|---|---|---|---|
| Zero Barrier | $0 | None | No |
| Brief On-the-Job Training | $0 | One month | No |
| Associate Degree (Texas) | Yearly in-state tuition plus books and supplies, from College Scorecard, times two years; the school's listed tuition if College Scorecard has none; — if there is no tuition figure at all | 24 months | No |
| Certificate / Credential (Texas) | The middle of the low and high total entry cost in the Texas license table, including training; the cost without training if no range is given | Training hours divided by 160 (about a month of full-time training), or one month if hours are not recorded | No |
| License / Credential (Texas) | As for certifications | As for certifications | No |
| Registered apprenticeships (Texas, filed as License / Credential, or Zero Barrier for pre-apprentice helpers) | As for certifications | As for certifications | Yes |
How break-even works
- A route with no direct cost ($0) shows Immediate.
- A school program with no tuition on record shows — for both Direct Cost and Break-Even: the cost is unknown, not zero.
- A route with no entry pay on record shows —.
- Otherwise: the direct cost divided by one month of entry pay (yearly entry pay ÷ 12), rounded up, is the months of work needed to earn the cost back.
- For routes without paid training, the months of training are added, because you are not earning while you train.
- For paid-training routes (registered apprenticeships in Texas, such as carpenter, electrician or lineman apprenticeships), the training months are not added, because an apprentice is employed and paid while training. Licenses and certifications, commercial driver's licenses included, are not paid training: their training months are added. Compare Non-Degree Paths shows this flag as Paid Training Yes or No.
Break-even ignores taxes, living costs, financial aid and what you would earn without the route. Treat it as a rough comparison between rows. See also how the figures are produced.
Messages you may see
- ⚠ No non-degree career was selected.: the page was opened without a career. Open it from the directory or a career page.
- ⚠ No non-degree pathways found for [career].: the career has no non-degree route in your state.
Worked example
A student in Texas thinking about becoming a radiologic technologist.
- On the career's detail page they set Pathway to Non-degree (cert / apprenticeship). The page Best Non-Degree Pathways For Radiologic Technologists and Technicians opens.
- The table lists associate degree programs at Texas colleges. Each Pathway cell names the program and college, with the city below; Tier reads Associate Degree on every row.
- Entry and Median are the same on every row, because pay belongs to the career. Direct Cost differs by college: two years of that college's tuition and books.
- Break-Even is the 24 months of study plus the months of entry pay needed to cover that cost, so cheaper colleges come out sooner. One row shows — for Direct Cost and Break-Even; no tuition figure was on record for that college, so the student checks its own price.
- They open Compare Non-Degree Paths, pick three of the colleges, and see time to entry and paid training side by side.
Common questions
- Why does a value show "—"?
- The figure is not on record: no pay figure for the career (pay and break-even show "—"), or no tuition for a school program (cost and break-even show "—"). A column where every row is "—" is hidden.
- Why does a two-year program show "—" for cost and break-even?
- No tuition figure was on record for that school, so the cost is unknown and the break-even cannot be worked out. Check the school's own price.
- Why is pay the same on every row?
- Pay is the career's statewide pay from the BLS survey, not a figure for each school or license. Rows differ in cost and time, not pay.
- Why is there only one row?
- Many careers have one non-degree route in the data: one immediate-entry or on-the-job route, or one Texas license. Associate programs give several rows, one per college.
- Which school programs are listed for a career?
- Only programs that the federal education-to-occupation crosswalk (NCES) links directly to this career. A radiologic technologist's page lists radiography and radiation-therapy programs, not physical-therapist-assistant or general health-sciences programs. One program can still lead to more than one career when the crosswalk names several, for example a radiation-therapy program.
- Why does an apprenticeship show a short break-even even though training takes years?
- Registered apprenticeships are paid training: the apprentice is employed and earns while training, so the training time is not added. Other licenses, such as a commercial driver's license, are paid for before the job starts, so their training time is added.
- Is this the same as the career's degree page?
- No. Degree routes and their schools are on Degrees for a career and the career's detail page. This page covers routes without a four-year degree.
- Can I save or print this table?
- There is no save or PDF button on this page. Your browser's print command still works.
What this does NOT do
- It does not enroll you, and it is not advice about which route to take.
- Its figures are estimates, not guarantees. Break-even leaves out taxes, living costs, aid and lost earnings.
- It has no filters, no sorting and no links from its rows.
- It does not show time to entry or paid training as columns; Compare Non-Degree Paths does.
- It lists no bootcamps, military routes or school certificate programs, and licenses, certifications, apprenticeships and associate programs in Texas only.
- It stores nothing about you. No account is needed.
Related
- Non-Degree Pathways: the directory that leads here.
- Compare non-degree pathways and Reading comparison results: side by side, with time to entry and paid training.
- A career's detail page and Degrees for a career.
- Jobs Trends: every route into a career, with pay history and outlook.
- Open Non-Degree Pathways