Undergraduate certificate · Emporia, Kansas

Is Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants at Flint Hills Technical 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 1.8 years.

Earnings 1 year after graduating: $46,358; Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Earnings 4 years after graduating: $60,318; Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Typical federal debt at graduation: $9,500; NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
Net cost to graduate, all families: $15k (likely $15k – $15k); AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
Earnings bump, year 4: $23k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in KS; 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
Payback: 1.8 years (likely 1.2–2.5); Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
10-year net return: $164k (likely $102k – $236k); Today's dollars
20-year net return: $455k (likely $305k – $631k); Today's dollars
Odds of finishing (school-wide): 69%; Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26