Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing at University of St Thomas

University of St. Thomas nursing graduates earn nearly $84,000 in their first year—that's $7,000 above Texas's median for nursing programs and almost $9,000 above the national benchmark. While this Houston program doesn't crack the top tier of Texas nursing schools (which includes some community college options with lower tuition), it significantly outperforms the typical four-year program in both the state and nationally. The debt load of roughly $24,600 is actually below both state and national medians for nursing programs, making the debt-to-earnings ratio of 0.29 quite manageable—graduates can expect to pay off their loans in about four months of gross salary.

What makes this particularly interesting is the combination of strong outcomes with a highly accessible admission profile (93% acceptance rate). Many programs with similar earnings are more selective, while this one serves a substantial population of Pell-eligible students (38%) without sacrificing graduate earnings. The moderate sample size suggests stable data without being so small as to raise concerns about year-to-year variation.

For a family considering nursing programs in Texas, this represents solid value—not the absolute highest earnings, but strong results with reasonable debt and none of the competitive admissions pressure that can make nursing school plans uncertain. Your child would graduate prepared to earn well above typical Texas nurses right from the start.