Fortis Institute-Towson Practical Nursing (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants
- Private for-profit school
- Towson, MD
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Fortis Institute-Towson practical nursing graduates earn about what practical nursing graduates earn nationally, $49,956 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $28,378 in federal loans, more than at 98% of practical nursing programs in the country. Several Maryland programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Maryland and national columns are the medians across all practical nursing certificate programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Fortis Institute-Towson graduates earn more than the national figure and about $3,204 more than the Maryland median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Maryland practical nursing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Maryland 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 6% between the first and fifth year. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in Maryland earn a median of $74,660 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 $301 a month, or 7.2% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
95% of graduates (113 of 119) were working in Maryland one year after graduating. Prices in the Baltimore area are about 4% above the national average, so a $49,956 salary here buys what about $47,811 buys in a typical US city.
The median Maryland LPN or LVN earns $74,660, compared with a national median of $64,400. After adjusting for Maryland prices, that pay is worth about $71,133, which puts Maryland 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
$43,240Median pay in Maryland. 27,720 people work in this job in Maryland. 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
$74,660Median pay in Maryland. 9,560 people work in this job in Maryland. 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 Fortis Institute-Towson
Practical Nursing ranks 1st of 8 certificate programs at Fortis Institute-Towson by first-year earnings. The top three are Practical Nursing ($49,956), Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($36,243), and HVAC ($35,785).
Other practical nursing certificate programs near Towson
Common questions
The median graduate earns $49,956 one year after graduating and $52,884 five years after. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in the Baltimore metro area earn a median of $74,860 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $28,378, which ranks 6th lowest of 6 practical nursing certificate programs in Maryland. That works out to about $301 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 57% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 34%. Compare the cost with other Maryland programs before deciding.
Most do. 95% (113 of 119) were working in Maryland 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 Maryland 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