Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing at Tacoma Community College

Tacoma Community College's nursing program launches graduates into impressively high first-year earnings at $82,447—crushing the national median by over $14,000 and ranking in the 95th percentile nationally. With manageable debt of $19,000, new nurses here face a debt-to-earnings ratio of just 0.23, meaning they could theoretically pay off their loans in less than three months of work.

The catch is Washington State's robust nursing market, where this program sits at the 60th percentile—solid middle-of-the-pack among 32 nursing programs statewide. Several nearby community colleges place graduates into slightly higher-paying positions, though the differences are relatively small. More concerning is the earnings trajectory: by year four, median pay drops to $69,372, a 16% decline that's unusual for healthcare fields. This could reflect graduates shifting to part-time work, moving into different nursing specialties, or other career patterns that don't show up in median statistics.

The bottom line: Your child will graduate with minimal debt and strong immediate earning potential that dramatically outperforms most nursing programs nationally. Just understand that in Washington's competitive nursing landscape, there are comparable options that might offer slightly better outcomes, and the earnings pattern suggests some graduates don't follow traditional full-time career paths. For the debt-to-earnings tradeoff alone, this remains a financially sound choice.