Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants at Southeastern College-West Palm Beach

Southeastern College's nursing program delivers something increasingly rare: training that keeps debt manageable. At just over $20,000, this program's debt load sits in the 13th percentile nationally—meaning 87% of similar programs leave students with more debt. For practical nursing, where you're entering a field with income ceilings, keeping debt low matters more than chasing the highest starting salary.

The earnings tell a more complicated story. At $43,000, graduates earn slightly above Florida's median for this program (60th percentile statewide) but trail the national median by about $1,000. The bigger concern is stagnation: earnings essentially flatline between year one and year four. Compare that to top Florida programs like Florida State College at Jacksonville ($57,579) or Meridian College ($54,072), and you see what stronger placement or better clinical training networks can produce. With 77% of students receiving Pell grants, many here are using education to access healthcare careers, but the program isn't translating that into exceptional earning power.

The math works if you need quick entry to nursing work without crushing debt. A 0.48 debt-to-earnings ratio means graduates can realistically manage loan payments on an LPN salary. But if you have the academic credentials for competitive programs and can navigate their admissions, Florida has options that deliver $10,000-15,000 more annually—a difference that compounds significantly over a career.