Types of Degrees Majors Are Getting

The following table lists how many respiratory therapy technician/assistant graduations there were for each degree level during the last year for which data was available.

Education Level	Number of Grads
Associate Degree	292
Bachelor’s Degree	50
Undergraduate Certificate	33

What Majors Need to Know

People with careers related to respiratory therapy technician/assistant were asked what knowledge areas, skills, and abilities were important for their jobs. They weighted these areas on a scale of 1 to 5 with 5 being the highest.

Knowledge Areas for Respiratory Therapy Technician/Assistant Majors

Respiratory Therapy Technician/Assistant majors often go into careers in which the following knowledge areas are important:

• Customer and Personal Service - Knowledge of principles and processes for providing customer and personal services. This includes customer needs assessment, meeting quality standards for services, and evaluation of customer satisfaction.
• Medicine and Dentistry - Knowledge of the information and techniques needed to diagnose and treat human injuries, diseases, and deformities. This includes symptoms, treatment alternatives, drug properties and interactions, and preventive health-care measures.
• English Language - Knowledge of the structure and content of the English language including the meaning and spelling of words, rules of composition, and grammar.
• Psychology - Knowledge of human behavior and performance; individual differences in ability, personality, and interests; learning and motivation; psychological research methods; and the assessment and treatment of behavioral and affective disorders.
• Public Safety and Security - Knowledge of relevant equipment, policies, procedures, and strategies to promote effective local, state, or national security operations for the protection of people, data, property, and institutions.

Skills for Respiratory Therapy Technician/Assistant Majors

A major in respiratory therapy technician/assistant prepares you for careers in which the following skill-sets are crucial:

• Active Listening - Giving full attention to what other people are saying, taking time to understand the points being made, asking questions as appropriate, and not interrupting at inappropriate times.
• Critical Thinking - Using logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions or approaches to problems.
• Monitoring - Monitoring/Assessing performance of yourself, other individuals, or organizations to make improvements or take corrective action.
• Service Orientation - Actively looking for ways to help people.
• Reading Comprehension - Understanding written sentences and paragraphs in work related documents.

Abilities for Respiratory Therapy Technician/Assistant Majors

Some of the most crucial abilities to master while a respiratory therapy technician/assistant student include the following:

• Problem Sensitivity - The ability to tell when something is wrong or is likely to go wrong. It does not involve solving the problem, only recognizing there is a problem.
• Oral Comprehension - The ability to listen to and understand information and ideas presented through spoken words and sentences.
• Oral Expression - The ability to communicate information and ideas in speaking so others will understand.
• Inductive Reasoning - The ability to combine pieces of information to form general rules or conclusions (includes finding a relationship among seemingly unrelated events).
• Deductive Reasoning - The ability to apply general rules to specific problems to produce answers that make sense.

Who Is Getting a Bachelor’s Degree in ?

This major is dominated by women with about 78% of recent graduates being female.

Racial-Ethnic Diversity

At the countrywide level, the racial-ethnic distribution of respiratory therapy technician/assistant majors is as follows:

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Grads
Asian	7
Black or African American	6
Hispanic or Latino	3
White	29
International Students	1
Other Races/Ethnicities	4

Geographic Diversity

Americans aren’t the only ones with an interest in Respiratory Therapy Technician/Assistant. About 2.0% of those with this major are international students.

How Much Do Majors Make?

Salaries According to BLS

The median salary for someone in a career related to respiratory therapy technician/assistant is $51,380. This median refers to all degree levels, so you may expect those with a more advanced degree to make more while those with less advanced degrees will typically make less.

To put that into context, according to BLS data from the first quarter of 2020, the typical high school graduate makes between $30,000 and $57,900 a year (25th through 75th percentile). The average person with a bachelor’s degree (any field) makes between $45,600 and $99,000. Advanced degree holders make the most with salaries between $55,600 and $125,400.

Amount of Education Required for Careers Related to

Some degrees associated with respiratory therapy technician/assistant may require an advanced degree, while others may not even require a bachelor’s in the field. In general, the more advanced your degree the more career options will open up to you. However, there is significant time and money that needs to be invested into your education so weigh the pros and cons.

How much schooling do you really need to compete in today’s job market? People currently working in careers related to respiratory therapy technician/assistant have obtained the following education levels.

Education Level	Percentage of Workers
Post-Secondary Certificate - awarded for training completed after high school (for example, in agriculture or natural resources, computer services, personal or culinary services, engineering technologies, healthcare, construction trades, mechanic and repair technologies, or precision production)	0.4%
Some College Courses	0.2%
Associate’s Degree (or other 2-year degree)	65.0%
Bachelor’s Degree	29.8%
Post-Baccalaureate Certificate - awarded for completion of an organized program of study; designed for people who have completed a Baccalaureate degree but do not meet the requirements of academic degrees carrying the title of Master.	7.1%

Online Programs

The following table lists the number of programs by degree level, along with how many schools offered online courses in the field.

Degree Level	Colleges Offering Programs	Colleges Offering Online Classes
Certificate (Less Than 1 Year)	0	0
Certificate (1-2 years)	5	0
Certificate (2-4 Years)	1	0
Associate’s Degree	21	0
Bachelor’s Degree	0	0
Post-Baccalaureate	0	0
Master’s Degree	0	0
Post-Master’s	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Research)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Professional Practice)	0	0
Doctor’s Degree (Other)	0	0

Is a Degree in Worth It?

The median salary for a respiratory therapy technician/assistant grad is $51,380 per year. This is based on the weighted average of the most common careers associated with the major.

This is 29% more than the average salary for an individual holding a high school degree. This adds up to a gain of about $229,600 after 20 years!

Majors Related to

You may also be interested in one of the following majors related to respiratory therapy technician/assistant.

Major	Number of Grads
Medical/Clinical Assistant	54,553
Pharmacy Technician/Assistant	7,327
Physical Therapy Assistant	6,499
Occupational Therapist Assistant	4,508
Other Allied Health and Medical Assisting Services	4,145
Emergency Care Attendant (EMT Ambulance)	3,373
Radiologist Assistant	1,360
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Assistant	571
Anesthesiologist Assistant	371
Speech-Language Pathology Assistant	299
Pathology/Pathologist Assistant	157
Lactation Consultant	49

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• College Scorecard
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
• Usual Weekly Earnings of Wage and Salary Workers First Quarter 2020

More about our data sources and methodologies.