Community College of Denver Practical Nursing (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants
- Public college
- Denver, CO
- About 114 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Community College of Denver practical nursing graduates earn less than graduates of most practical nursing programs nationally, $23,614 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $12,000 in federal loans, close to the national median of $14,730. Several Colorado programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Colorado and national columns are the medians across all practical nursing certificate programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Community College of Denver graduates earn more than the national figure and about $2,203 more than the Colorado median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Colorado practical nursing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Colorado medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 160% between the first and fifth year. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in Colorado earn a median of $73,880 across all experience levels, which shows how much room there is to grow after the first few years.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate. BLS figures cover licensed practical and vocational nurses at every experience level.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $127 a month, or 6.5% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
22 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $28,890.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
88% of graduates (21 of 24) were working in Colorado one year after graduating. Prices in the Denver area are about 6% above the national average, so a $23,614 salary here buys what about $22,323 buys in a typical US city.
The median Colorado LPN or LVN earns $73,880, compared with a national median of $64,400. After adjusting for Colorado prices, that pay is worth about $71,692, which puts Colorado ahead.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to practical nursing, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Nursing Assistants
$47,380Median pay in Colorado. 22,240 people work in this job in Colorado. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 196,200 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses
$73,880Median pay in Colorado. 4,920 people work in this job in Colorado. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 3% from 2025 to 2035, with about 51,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: postsecondary nondegree award.
About Community College of Denver
Practical Nursing ranks 2nd of 3 certificate programs at Community College of Denver by first-year earnings. The others are Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($72,086) and Teacher Education ($18,399).
Other practical nursing certificate programs near Denver
Common questions
The median graduate earns $23,614 one year after graduating and $61,513 five years after. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in the Denver metro area earn a median of $75,810 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $12,000, which ranks 5th lowest of 11 practical nursing certificate programs in Colorado. That works out to about $127 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 51% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 34%. Compare the cost with other Colorado programs before deciding.
Most do. 88% (21 of 24) were working in Colorado one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of Colorado comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the practical nursing program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024