Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing at Lower Columbia College

Lower Columbia College's nursing program delivers strong first-year earnings of $75,715 with manageable debt of $19,103—a comfortable 0.25 debt-to-earnings ratio that beats the national average. Graduates earn well above the national median for associate nursing programs, placing them in the 80th percentile nationally. That's the good news. The complication comes when you look at Washington state specifically, where this program falls to the 40th percentile. With a state median of $79,369, Lower Columbia graduates start about $3,600 below what nursing graduates typically earn elsewhere in Washington, and they trail the top state programs by roughly $8,000-9,000 annually.

What explains this gap? Geographic factors matter significantly in nursing—Longview's location in southwestern Washington likely offers fewer high-paying hospital systems compared to the Seattle-Tacoma metro area where most top-performing programs cluster. The earnings growth trajectory is solid at 9% over four years, suggesting graduates build experience and credentials that increase their value. The relatively low debt burden partially offsets the earnings gap, though not entirely.

For families considering in-state options, this represents a practical path to nursing with reasonable debt, but students willing to relocate after graduation might find better immediate earning potential elsewhere in Washington. If staying in the Longview area, the local salary expectations make this program's economics work fine; if planning to work in Seattle or Spokane, you're starting at a disadvantage compared to graduates from programs in those regions.