Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants at Big Bend Technical College

In a state with 110 nursing programs, practical nursing graduates report wildly different outcomes—from $57,000+ at Florida State College at Jacksonville down to around $30,000. Big Bend Technical College's estimated figures, drawn from similar Florida programs, suggest first-year earnings around $41,000 with roughly $10,500 in debt. That 0.26 debt-to-earnings ratio looks manageable on paper, but there's a troubling detail buried in the data: earnings four years out drop to just $30,000, nearly $11,000 less than the first year.

That earnings decline is unusual for nursing credentials and raises questions about local job markets in the Perry area or whether graduates are moving into lower-paid assistant roles rather than advancing as LPNs. The estimated debt load is below both state and national medians for this credential, which is genuinely positive. But even modest debt becomes harder to manage when your income is heading the wrong direction. Compare this to top Florida programs where graduates earn $47,000-$57,000—that $17,000-$27,000 gap matters enormously when you're trying to establish financial stability.

Given these are estimates and the four-year earnings drop seems inconsistent with typical nursing career trajectories, parents should verify actual graduate outcomes directly with Big Bend before committing. If those four-year figures reflect reality rather than data quirks, this program may not provide the stable earnings growth that makes nursing credentials valuable elsewhere in Florida.