Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing at Margaret H Rollins School of Nursing at Beebe Medical Center

The debt picture here is exceptional: $12,783 puts this program in the 87th percentile nationally—meaning only 13% of nursing certificate programs nationwide burden graduates with less debt. That's half the national median of $23,562 for similar programs, and when paired with projected first-year earnings of $66,398 based on comparable nursing certificates nationally, you're looking at a debt-to-earnings ratio of just 0.19. That's well below the 1.0 threshold that typically signals affordability concerns.

The caveat is significant: because Beebe's graduate cohort is small, the Department of Education doesn't publish actual earnings for this specific program. That $66,398 figure comes from the national median for nursing certificates, not verified outcomes from Rollins School graduates. Delaware only has two programs at this level, so state-level benchmarks don't add much clarity. What we do know is that nursing certificates generally lead to solid entry-level positions, and the school serves a meaningful population of Pell-eligible students (43%), suggesting it's accessible to middle- and lower-income families.

The practical read: if your child completes this program and lands work that matches typical nursing certificate outcomes, the debt load should be manageable within months. But without verified earnings data from Beebe specifically, you're making an educated guess based on national patterns rather than a confident bet on this school's track record.