Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing at Trinidad State College

Trinidad State's nursing graduates face a puzzling reality: they earn less than peers at 14 of Colorado's 15 nursing programs, landing in just the 40th percentile statewide. With first-year earnings of $66,009, they're trailing the state median by over $5,500 and barely seeing any income growth after four years. Even community colleges like Morgan and Front Range see their nursing graduates earning $10,000+ more annually.

The debt picture offers little consolation. While the $20,801 load is manageable in absolute terms—representing about 32% of first-year earnings—it's essentially average for nursing programs both nationally and within Colorado. So your child isn't getting a discount to offset the lower earnings; they're simply getting less return on a standard investment. The high Pell Grant rate (41%) suggests Trinidad serves students with financial constraints, but those students would likely fare better financially at Front Range or Pikes Peak, which offer both higher earnings and broader job market access along Colorado's Front Range.

For a small-town Colorado family committed to staying local, Trinidad can get you to an RN license without crushing debt. But for anyone with geographic flexibility, Colorado's urban community colleges deliver substantially better outcomes for similar—or even lower—costs. That $10,000 annual earnings gap compounds quickly over a nursing career.