Utah · Families
The four-number family worksheet
Compare net price, completion, typical pay, and median debt — the same four columns as the Opportunity Chain capstone. No pathway wins every number.
The four numbers to compare
Before choosing a school or pathway, gather the same four metrics for each option. Utah pathway medians below show how tradeoffs differ — USHE technical colleges skew low cost and high completion; USHE four-year colleges lead public earnings medians at higher price and debt.
1 · Net price
What your family pays after grants — not sticker tuition. Part 5
2 · Completion
Share of students finishing on time. Different from USHE concurrent-enrollment attainment. Part 7
3 · Typical pay
Median earnings six years after starting — a floor, not a guarantee. Part 3
4 · Median debt
Federal loan debt among borrowers — pair with pay, not completion alone. Part 8
Utah pathway medians (Part 9)
Read as a tradeoff matrix, not a leaderboard. Split USHE technical colleges from for-profit certificate schools before comparing short credentials (Part 2).
| Pathway | Net price | Completion | Typical pay (6 yrs) | Median debt |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| USHE four-year | $10K | 53% | $46K | $9K |
| USHE community | $7K | 46% | $38K | $4K |
| Certificate & technical (all) | $17K | 84% | $25K | N/A |
| USHE technical (subset) | $3K | 79% | $38K | N/A |
| Concurrent enrollment bridge | N/A | 77% | N/A | N/A |
| Private nonprofit | $12K | 46% | $53K | $8K |
| For-profit | $19K | 50% | $25K | $8K |
| Apprenticeship | N/A | N/A | N/A | N/A |
- Cost constraint — Net price at your income band vs. expected borrowing.
- Completion risk — On-time completion alongside earnings; high finish rates do not always mean high pay.
- Earnings floor — Typical pay six years after starting; verify program-level data on school profiles.
- Debt burden — Median debt relative to pay — especially for for-profit certificate pathways.
What this means for you
This worksheet supports family conversations — it does not recommend a single pathway.
- Print the worksheet and fill in each school your student is considering — then compare to Utah medians.
- Ask financial aid for net price at your income band, not the sticker price online.
- When a school name comes up, open its school profile for program-level pay and debt.
- See the whitepaper for decision dimensions across the full chain.
Pathways & Outcomes original analysis; cite the report and link to the primary URL. Data vintage: Part 9 capstone · College Scorecard Utah subset.
APA: Pathways and Outcomes. (2026). Four-number family worksheet. https://pathwaysandoutcomes.org/utah/family-worksheet/
Pathways & Outcomes uses AI tools to help draft reports and data briefs from verified public data and analysis. A human editor reviews every publication for accuracy, data consistency, clarity, methodology alignment, and discrepancies before release. AI does not determine what we investigate, what we publish, or what conclusions we reach. Editorial policy · About our team