Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing at Hiram College

Hiram College nursing graduates face an unusual earnings trajectory that warrants careful consideration. While first-year earnings of $68,998 land near the middle of Ohio's nursing programs (40th percentile), pay drops to $61,675 by year four—an 11% decline when most nurses see steady increases. This puts graduates roughly $13,000 behind the state median by that point, and well below top Ohio programs like Chamberlain ($83,188) and Kettering ($79,505).

The $29,440 debt load is slightly above both state and national medians, though the debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.43 remains manageable. The real concern is what happens after that initial year: most nursing programs show earnings growth as nurses gain experience and advance, but Hiram's graduates see the opposite pattern. This could reflect the types of facilities hiring from this program, regional job market constraints, or simply a small sample size creating statistical noise with just 30-100 graduates tracked.

For an open-access program (93% admission rate) serving many first-generation students, Hiram provides nursing access at a reasonable price point. But if your child has admission to Ohio programs showing stronger long-term earnings—particularly the state's university system campuses or specialized nursing colleges—those represent safer investments. The declining earnings pattern here is a genuine outlier worth investigating directly with the school.