Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants at University of Hawaii Maui College

For nursing assistant and practical nursing programs nationally, $13,671 in estimated debt combined with first-year earnings around $44,000 creates a manageable financial picture—the debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.31 suggests graduates could reasonably pay off their loans in under a year if they prioritized repayment. However, these figures come from national medians across hundreds of similar programs, not from tracking actual Maui College graduates, so they represent what's typical rather than what this specific program delivers.

Hawaii's healthcare job market operates differently than the mainland, with higher living costs but also strong demand for nursing professionals, particularly on the outer islands. The challenge is that with only four nursing assistant programs statewide and none reporting actual outcomes publicly, parents can't compare this program to local alternatives using hard data. You're essentially making an informed guess based on what comparable certificate programs produce nationally.

The practical question is whether Hawaii's cost of living erodes the value suggested by these national benchmarks. A $44,000 starting salary goes much further in most mainland markets than it does in Maui. Before committing, contact the program directly for placement rates and actual starting salaries of recent graduates working locally—if they can't provide concrete outcomes for their own students, that's a significant gap given what you're being asked to invest.