Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants at Delgado Community College

Delgado's nursing assistant and practical nursing program saddles students with nearly three times the debt they'd carry at a typical Louisiana program—$38,569 versus a state median of $20,055. That debt burden ranks in the bottom 5% nationally, meaning 95% of similar programs leave students with less debt. While the $42,416 starting salary covers those loans (debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.91), graduates are paying back significantly more than peers who trained elsewhere in Louisiana for similar jobs.

The earnings trajectory shows decent growth—up 13% to $47,938 by year four—but that still trails programs like Fletcher Technical Community College, where graduates start at $52,652, or Healthcare Training Institute at $62,470. At 62% Pell enrollment, Delgado serves many students who can least afford to take on excessive debt for training that typically costs half as much across Louisiana.

For families weighing this option: the program produces working nurses, but the debt load creates an unnecessary financial burden. Within Louisiana alone, at least four community colleges offer comparable training with dramatically lower borrowing. Unless Delgado offers specific geographic convenience or scheduling flexibility that other programs can't match, the extra $18,000 in debt represents a steep price to pay for credentials that yield middle-of-the-pack earnings.