Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing at South Plains College

Based on comparable nursing programs across Texas, South Plains College's associate degree in nursing appears to position graduates near the state median, with first-year earnings around $71,487—right in line with the typical Texas RN graduate. The $18,500 in debt sits slightly below the state median of $18,000, resulting in a debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.26. That means graduates would need roughly three months of gross income to cover their education costs, a manageable burden that nursing's reliable employment market makes even more feasible.

The year-four earnings figure of $65,907 initially looks like a dip, but this likely reflects timing quirks in the data rather than actual salary regression—nursing wages tend to climb steadily with experience. More telling is how this program compares to Texas nursing schools with stronger reported outcomes: top performers like El Paso Community College and Weatherford College place graduates $7,000-$10,000 higher in first-year earnings. Given that South Plains serves a substantial population of Pell-eligible students (40%), the program delivers solid access to a stable healthcare career, even if it doesn't match the earning power of the state's leading nursing programs.

For families in the Levelland area seeking an affordable entry into nursing, the estimated debt load is reasonable and the career trajectory reliable. The uncertainty around these estimates matters less than the broader reality: associate-degree nursing programs in Texas consistently produce employable graduates with manageable debt.