Lone Star College System Nursing (ADN): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing
- Public college
- The Woodlands, TX
- About 334 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Lone Star College System nursing graduates earn more than graduates of most nursing programs nationally, $77,795 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $15,000 in federal loans, less than at 79% of nursing programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying nursing degrees in Texas.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Texas and national columns are the medians across all nursing associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Lone Star College System graduates earn more than the national figure and about $7,555 more than the Texas median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Texas nursing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Texas 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 11% between the first and fifth year. Registered nurses in Texas earn a median of $95,970 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 about the same in their first year as other graduates, but borrowed more: a median of $15,675 against $11,987.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $159 a month, or 2.5% 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, 42 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $7,594.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
93% of graduates (106 of 114) were working in Texas one year after graduating. Prices in the Houston area are about 1% below the national average, so a $77,795 salary here buys what about $78,876 buys in a typical US city.
The median Texas RN earns $95,970, compared with a national median of $97,550. After adjusting for Texas prices, that pay is worth about $98,880, which puts Texas slightly ahead.
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
$95,970Median pay in Texas. 271,380 people work in this job in Texas. 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
$114,150Median pay in Texas. 58,420 people work in this job in Texas. 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
$131,670Median pay in Texas. 25,970 people work in this job in Texas. 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
$244,990Median pay in Texas. 4,060 people work in this job in Texas. 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 Lone Star College System
Nursing ranks 1st of 13 associate's programs at Lone Star College System by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($77,795), Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($58,408), and Physical Science Technology ($53,976).
Other nursing associate's programs near The Woodlands
Common questions
The median graduate earns $77,795 one year after graduating and $86,053 five years after. Registered nurses in the Houston metro area earn a median of $99,830 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $15,000, which ranks 14th lowest of 49 nursing associate's programs in Texas. That works out to about $159 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 19% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 29%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 5% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Texas programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 93% (106 of 114) were working in Texas 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 Texas 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