Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing at Colorado Technical University-Colorado Springs

Colorado Technical University's nursing program delivers something unusual: exceptionally strong first-year earnings of $87,579 that place graduates in the national top 10%. That's roughly $13,000 above the typical nursing graduate nationwide and solidly ahead of higher-profile Colorado programs like Metropolitan State and Regis. With debt under $31,000, new graduates face a comfortable 0.35 debt-to-earnings ratio—you'd need just four months of earnings to cover the entire loan balance.

The complication is the earnings trajectory. By year four, median pay drops to $84,584, representing a 3% decline rather than the growth you'd normally expect. This could reflect CTU's large Pell grant population (68%) landing strong initial positions but perhaps facing different career advancement patterns than peers at traditional universities. Still, even with this dip, year-four earnings remain competitive with Colorado's best nursing programs. The state percentile ranking of 60th is somewhat misleading when you consider that CTU's first-year outcomes are already beating most in-state alternatives.

For families worried about nursing school debt, this program keeps borrowing reasonable while delivering immediate earning power. The earnings plateau is worth monitoring, but starting at nearly $88,000 provides a financial cushion that many nursing graduates don't have.