Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants at Florida Career College-Orlando

Nursing programs typically offer stable, livable wages, but Florida Career College-Orlando's practical nursing certificate delivers earnings that are troublingly low—roughly half what the program produces at other Florida schools. At $22,247 in the first year, graduates earn less than many retail positions, ranking in just the 10th percentile among Florida nursing programs. For comparison, Florida State College at Jacksonville's nursing graduates earn $57,579, while the state median sits at $40,922. Even with relatively modest debt of $9,861, the debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.44 means graduates are carrying nearly half a year's salary in loans, and earnings actually decline slightly over four years rather than grow.

The concerning part isn't just the low starting point—it's that 69% of students here receive Pell grants, meaning this program is serving primarily lower-income students who can least afford a credential that doesn't deliver. With 110 nursing programs across Florida and many showing dramatically better outcomes, this isn't a case where all programs perform similarly. The data suggests either employer preferences for graduates from other schools, differences in curriculum preparation, or perhaps a concentration in lower-paying care settings.

For parents, this is a straightforward decision: other Florida nursing programs exist with proven track records of launching graduates into $45,000-$57,000 careers. Unless there are exceptional geographic constraints, look elsewhere.