Harding University Nursing (BSN): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Bachelor's in Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing
- Private nonprofit university
- Searcy, AR
- About 48 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Harding University nursing graduates earn less than graduates of most nursing programs nationally, $69,743 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $30,000 in federal loans, more than at 76% of nursing programs in the country. Several Arkansas programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Arkansas and national columns are the medians across all nursing bachelor's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Harding University graduates earn less than the national figure and about $8,491 less than the Arkansas median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Arkansas nursing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Arkansas medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
Some nursing bachelor's programs are for nurses who are already licensed and working (RN-to-BSN). College Scorecard counts them with programs for new students, and their graduates' pay reflects years of nursing experience, so high pay at a program here may not mean higher starting pay for a new nurse.
What graduates earn over time
Pay is about the same in the first and fifth year. Registered nurses in Arkansas earn a median of $78,940 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 registered nurses at every experience level.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned slightly more in their first year than other graduates, but borrowed more: a median of $31,000 against $28,000.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $318 a month, or 5.5% 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. Separately, 28 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $30,277.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
38% of graduates (29 of 76) were working in Arkansas one year after graduating. Prices in the parts of Arkansas outside metro areas are about 17% below the national average, so a $69,743 salary here buys what about $84,075 buys in a typical US city.
The median Arkansas RN earns $78,940, compared with a national median of $97,550. After adjusting for Arkansas prices, that pay is worth about $90,801, which puts Arkansas behind.
Careers this field leads to
These are the jobs that the federal crosswalk from fields of study to occupations links to nursing, largest first. Pay is the median across all experience levels.
Registered Nurses
$78,940Median pay in Arkansas. 29,400 people work in this job in Arkansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 6% from 2025 to 2035, with about 180,800 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree.
Medical and Health Services Managers
$94,340Median pay in Arkansas. 6,440 people work in this job in Arkansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 24% from 2025 to 2035, with about 62,300 openings a year. Typical education to start: bachelor's degree, plus less than 5 years of related work experience.
Nurse Practitioners
$125,660Median pay in Arkansas. 3,970 people work in this job in Arkansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 41% from 2025 to 2035, with about 29,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
Nurse Anesthetists
$224,280Median pay in Arkansas. Nationally, jobs are projected to grow 10% from 2025 to 2035, with about 2,400 openings a year. Typical education to start: master's degree.
About Harding University
Nursing ranks 2nd of 19 bachelor's programs at Harding University by first-year earnings. The top three are Computer Science ($78,041), Nursing ($69,743), and Accounting ($58,649).
Other nursing bachelor's programs near Searcy
Common questions
The median graduate earns $69,743 one year after graduating and $69,427 five years after. Registered nurses in Arkansas earn a median of $78,940 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $30,000, which ranks 10th lowest of 11 nursing bachelor's programs in Arkansas. That works out to about $318 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 43% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 36%. Compare the cost with other Arkansas programs before deciding.
Many leave. 38% (29 of 76) were working in Arkansas 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 Arkansas 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 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