Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing at Great Basin College

The debt load here is manageable—$22,257 against estimated first-year earnings around $80,518 based on Nevada's nursing programs—but there's an unusual wrinkle in this data that deserves attention. The estimated first-year figure ($80,518) sits above the four-year earnings number ($67,814), which is backwards from typical career progression. This likely reflects Nevada's volatile healthcare labor market or the small sample limitations rather than actual decline, but it creates uncertainty about the typical trajectory for Great Basin graduates specifically.

What's clearer is how Nevada nursing programs compare nationally. Similar programs across the state consistently produce first-year earnings near $80,000, well above the national median of $68,409 for associate nursing degrees. The debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.28 suggests graduates could feasibly pay off loans within a few years even on conservative repayment plans. Great Basin's debt level of $22,257 sits close to both state and national norms for this credential.

The practical question is whether Great Basin's rural Elko location produces outcomes matching peer programs in Reno and Las Vegas that report actual data in the $75,000-$83,000 range. Nevada's nursing market is strong, but smaller rural facilities may offer different compensation and advancement opportunities than urban hospitals. The fundamentals look reasonable—nursing remains one of the better-paying associate degrees available—but you're making this decision with less program-specific certainty than you'd have at schools with reported outcomes.