Undergraduate certificate · Creston, Iowa

Is Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants at Southwestern Community College 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 0.6 years.

Earnings 1 year after graduating: Not enough graduates to report; Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Earnings 4 years after graduating: $74,405; Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Typical federal debt at graduation: $7,945; NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
Net cost to graduate, all families: $14k (likely $14k – $14k); AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
Earnings bump, year 4: $34k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in IA; 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
Payback: 0.6 years (likely 0.4–0.9); Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
10-year net return: $290k (likely $203k – $392k); Today's dollars
20-year net return: $687k (likely $497k – $913k); Today's dollars
Odds of finishing (school-wide): 66%; Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26