GateWay Community College Practical Nursing (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants
- Public college
- Phoenix, AZ
- About 403 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
GateWay Community College practical nursing graduates earn more than graduates of most practical nursing programs nationally, $60,620 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $12,898 in federal loans, close to the national median of $14,730. It is one of the higher-paying practical nursing programs in Arizona.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Arizona and national columns are the medians across all practical nursing certificate programs that report the figure.
Five years out, GateWay Community College graduates earn more than the national figure and about $19,786 more than the Arizona median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Arizona practical nursing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Arizona 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 falls about 3% between the first and fifth year. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in Arizona earn a median of $77,070 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 $137 a month, or 2.7% 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
93% of graduates (41 of 44) were working in Arizona one year after graduating. Prices in the Phoenix area are about 3% above the national average, so a $60,620 salary here buys what about $58,674 buys in a typical US city.
The median Arizona LPN or LVN earns $77,070, compared with a national median of $64,400. After adjusting for Arizona prices, that pay is worth about $76,552, which puts Arizona 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
$44,780Median pay in Arizona. 20,320 people work in this job in Arizona. 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
$77,070Median pay in Arizona. 6,530 people work in this job in Arizona. 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 GateWay Community College
Practical Nursing ranks 2nd of 6 certificate programs at GateWay Community College by first-year earnings. The top three are Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($63,579), Practical Nursing ($60,620), and Business Administration ($42,264).
Other practical nursing certificate programs near Phoenix
Common questions
The median graduate earns $60,620 one year after graduating and $58,899 five years after. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in the Phoenix metro area earn a median of $78,080 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $12,898, which ranks 4th lowest of 5 practical nursing certificate programs in Arizona. That works out to about $137 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 21% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 34%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less.
Most do. 93% (41 of 44) were working in Arizona 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 Arizona 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