Master's · San Marcos, California

Is Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing at California State University-San Marcos worth it?

Medium confidence Medium confidence: 40–99 graduates behind the earnings figures.

The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans

Pays back fast: graduates typically recover the cost in about 1.3 years.

Earnings 1 year after graduating: $141,857; Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Earnings 4 years after graduating: $159,829; Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Typical federal debt at graduation: $53,500; NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
Typical borrowing (no graduate net price is published): $57k (likely $57k – $57k); AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
Earnings bump, year 4: $92k a year vs bachelor's graduates 4 years out in CA; 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
Payback: 1.3 years (likely 1.0–1.7); Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
10-year net return: $685k (likely $470k – $911k); Today's dollars
20-year net return: $1.78M (likely $1.32M – $2.29M); Today's dollars

Scorecard reports no net price for graduate programs; cost is based on what graduates typically borrowed.