Is a Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants degree worth it?
Across 5 schools, graduates of Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants earn a median $29,029 five years out on $15,250 of debt — most often working as Nursing Assistants. Every figure is a real, published federal number.
Median 5-yr pay
$29,029
Median debt
$15,250
Years to pay off
5.3
at 10% of pay
AI task exposure
15%
GPT-4-era overlap
10-yr job growth
+2.4%
BLS 2024–2034
Net price
$11,978/yr
Debt-test failures
20%
of programs
See where this degree leads, who's hiring, and whether the pay covers the rent.
Explore Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants in full →Data: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard, BLS OEWS, O*NET, AI-exposure measures (Eloundou/AIOE), Zillow. Earnings reflect federally-aided graduates; see the full story for methodology and limitations.