Online Audio & recording technology Undergraduate certificate
18 programs — 4 with federal cost data, the rest suppressed for small class sizes and listed after them, ordered by median debt against median earnings — lowest first.
Data last updated
Specific program
Schools file the same degree under different federal codes — Berklee’s music production sits under “Music, Other”, Academy of Art’s under “Recording Arts”. These groups gather every code a program is actually filed under.
Hide for-profit colleges(5 programs)What our data shows about for-profit collegesAcross the creative fields on this site, students at private for-profit institutions borrow 27% more than students at public ones ($29,332 against $23,033) and earn 15% less four years after completing ($38,361 against $45,110).The combined effect is severe. Median debt at a for-profit equals 70% of a graduate’s annual earnings, against 47% at a public institution. And 10% of for-profit programs leave graduates owing more than they earn in a year — against 1% of public ones. Ten times the rate.This is a pattern across 212 for-profit programs, not a handful of outliers, and it holds in every creative field we cover. It does not mean no for-profit program is worth taking: some appear high in our best-value rankings, and this filter hides those too. It means the odds are materially worse, and the burden of proof sits with the school.Figures are medians computed from the College Scorecard and IPEDS data behind every table on this site.
| Institution | Programcredential and delivery | at completion | 4 yrs after | Median federal loan debt at completion, divided by median earnings four years later. It answers a single question: how much of one year’s income do you owe on the day you finish?Below 50% is generally considered manageable. Above 100% means graduates owe more than they earn in a year, and repayment on a standard ten-year plan starts to consume a serious share of income.Debt covers federal loans only, so real ratios are often worse. Both figures are medians — half of graduates fall on the wrong side of each. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida Institute of Recording Sound and TechnologyFL · Private for-profitRequest information → | Recording Arts Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Fully online | $7,853 | $33,711 | 23% |
| Full Sail UniversityFL · Private for-profitRequest information → | Audiovisual Communications Technologies/Technicians, OtherUndergraduate certificate · Online or on campusOffers: Audio Production (BS) · Music Production (BS) · Recording Arts (BS) · Live Event Production (BS) · Music Business (BS) · Film Production (BFA) · Game Design (BS) · Game Development (BS) · Computer Animation (BS) · Graphic Design (BS) · Digital Marketing (BS)What this figure actually coversThe federal government reports debt and earnings for a whole program family rather than one degree. At this institution that family also includes:Radio and Television Broadcasting Technology/TechnicianThe figures on this row describe all of them together. We cannot separate them, and we do not estimate. | $12,865 | $36,188 | 36% |
| Amarillo CollegeTX · PublicRequest information → | Radio and Television Broadcasting Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Online or on campusWhat this figure actually coversThe federal government reports debt and earnings for a whole program family rather than one degree. At this institution that family also includes:Photographic and Film/Video Technology/TechnicianThe figures on this row describe all of them together. We cannot separate them, and we do not estimate. | — | $29,351 | — |
| Musicians InstituteCA · Private for-profitRequest information → | Recording Arts Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Fully online | — | $34,313 | — |
| Central Piedmont Community CollegeNC · PublicRequest information → | Radio and Television Broadcasting Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Chaffey CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | Photographic and Film/Video Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Online or on campusWhat this figure actually coversThe federal government reports debt and earnings for a whole program family rather than one degree. At this institution that family also includes:Recording Arts Technology/TechnicianThe figures on this row describe all of them together. We cannot separate them, and we do not estimate. | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Columbia Central University-CaguasPR · Private for-profitRequest information → | Recording Arts Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Dallas CollegeTX · PublicRequest information → | Radio and Television Broadcasting Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Foothill CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | Recording Arts Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Georgia Piedmont Technical CollegeGA · PublicRequest information → | Recording Arts Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Online or on campus | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Indiana University-BloomingtonIN · PublicRequest information → | Recording Arts Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Fully onlineOffers: Audio Engineering and Sound Production (BS) · Music Production – Audio Engineering (BS) · Music Production – Creation and Production (BS) · Performance (BM) · Jazz Studies (BM) · Composition (BM) · Music Education (BME) · Music and an Outside Field (BS) | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Los Angeles Valley CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | Recording Arts Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Online or on campusWhat this figure actually coversThe federal government reports debt and earnings for a whole program family rather than one degree. At this institution that family also includes:Photographic and Film/Video Technology/TechnicianThe figures on this row describe all of them together. We cannot separate them, and we do not estimate. | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Mesa Community CollegeAZ · PublicRequest information → | Recording Arts Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Mt Hood Community CollegeOR · PublicRequest information → | Radio and Television Broadcasting Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| San Diego Miramar CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | Recording Arts Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Santa Ana CollegeCA · PublicRequest information → | Recording Arts Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| The Recording Conservatory of AustinTX · Private for-profitRequest information → | Recording Arts Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
| Visible Music CollegeTN · Private nonprofitRequest information → | Recording Arts Technology/TechnicianUndergraduate certificate · Fully online | Not reported | Not reported | — |
Source: College Scorecard, Field of Study (retrieved September 2026)
How we are paid: StudyCreative earns revenue when readers ask to be connected with a school. No school pays to appear in these figures, to change them, or to be left out of them. Full disclosure.
One thing these figures cannot tell you
Earnings and debt are reported by the federal government at a four-digit program level, so a figure shown against “Audio & recording technology” covers every related program at that institution rather than one named degree. That pooling also spans delivery: where a school runs the same credential both online and on campus, the federal figures combine both sets of students. We cannot separate them, and we do not estimate. Full methodology.