Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing at College of Coastal Georgia

College of Coastal Georgia's ADN program produces starting salaries around $67,000—solid entry into nursing, but several Georgia technical colleges are launching graduates into the field with $15,000-20,000 higher first-year earnings. At the 40th percentile for Georgia nursing programs, this program underperforms the state median of $71,000 by about $4,000 annually, a gap that compounds over a career. The moderate debt of $25,881 is manageable relative to that first paycheck (0.39 ratio), but it's higher than Georgia's typical nursing debt of $19,000.

The backwards trajectory from year 1 to year 4—earnings dropping to $64,000—warrants scrutiny. Many nursing graduates increase earnings as they gain experience and shift toward higher-paying specialties or hospitals, but this cohort trends the opposite direction. With a moderate sample size, this pattern may reflect graduates staying in lower-paying regional facilities or working part-time schedules rather than a fundamental program weakness.

For families comparing options, the top Georgia technical colleges offer significantly stronger earning potential at similar or lower debt levels. Unless proximity to Brunswick is essential for your student's circumstances, programs like Chattahoochee Technical or West Georgia Technical deliver roughly $20,000 more in annual earnings—a meaningful difference that affects everything from loan repayment speed to long-term wealth building. This program gets graduates licensed and working, but it's not Georgia's most economically efficient path into nursing.