Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing at Iowa Lakes Community College

Iowa Lakes' nursing program sits in the middle of Iowa's community college pack, but the small sample size here should temper expectations. At $61,157 starting, graduates earn slightly below the state median and about $7,000 less than what they'd see at Iowa Western or Kirkwood. The bigger concern is the earnings trajectory: four years out, pay actually drops to $57,389—unusual in nursing, where experience typically commands higher wages.

The debt load of $30,750 stands out as notably high for a community college program, running about $8,000 above Iowa's median and nearly $10,000 above the national benchmark. That creates a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.50, manageable but not ideal when competing programs graduate students with significantly less debt. With fewer than 30 graduates in this dataset, these numbers might reflect a particularly rough cohort rather than a consistent pattern, but they're still the best information available.

If your child is set on nursing and prefers small-town Iowa, this program will get them licensed. But the combination of higher debt and lower-than-peer earnings suggests looking hard at alternatives like Iowa Western or Kirkwood, both of which show stronger financial outcomes. The earnings decline over time is especially worth understanding—whether it reflects local job market limits or graduate retention issues makes a real difference.