Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing at Missouri State University-Springfield

Missouri State's nursing program lands in the middle tier of Missouri options, but graduates face an unusual challenge: earnings actually decline after the first year. While new graduates earn $66,183—about $2,700 below Missouri's median for nursing programs—that figure drops to $63,936 by year four. This backward trajectory is particularly concerning in a field where experience typically commands higher pay.

The program sits at just the 5th percentile nationally, meaning 95% of nursing programs produce higher-earning graduates. Even within Missouri's 36 nursing programs, it ranks only at the 40th percentile. Compare this to top Missouri options like Chamberlain ($83,188) or Research College of Nursing ($75,705), which deliver substantially stronger first-year outcomes. The debt load of $26,631 is reasonable at 0.40 times first-year earnings, but that ratio worsens as earnings decline in subsequent years.

For an in-state student choosing between Missouri nursing programs, this represents a significant earnings gap—nearly $17,000 less than Chamberlain grads and about $9,000 below University of Missouri-Columbia. That difference compounds to roughly $40,000-$100,000 over just five years of a nursing career. If your student has been admitted to higher-performing Missouri nursing programs, the data clearly favors those alternatives.