Mountain Empire Community College Nursing (ADN): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing
- Public college
- Big Stone Gap, VA
- About 47 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Mountain Empire Community College nursing graduates earn less than graduates of most nursing programs nationally, $62,303 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $7,475 in federal loans, less than at 99% of nursing programs in the country. Debt is low, but pay is also below the Virginia median of $68,422.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Virginia and national columns are the medians across all nursing associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Mountain Empire Community College graduates earn less than the national figure and about $8,963 less than the Virginia median. Several Virginia programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Virginia nursing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Virginia 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 3% between the first and fifth year. Registered nurses in Virginia earn a median of $93,600 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.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $79 a month, or 1.5% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
84% of graduates (63 of 75) were working in Virginia one year after graduating. Prices in the parts of Virginia outside metro areas are about 12% below the national average, so a $62,303 salary here buys what about $70,510 buys in a typical US city.
The median Virginia RN earns $93,600, compared with a national median of $97,550. After adjusting for Virginia prices, that pay is worth about $92,578, which puts Virginia 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
$93,600Median pay in Virginia. 77,490 people work in this job in Virginia. 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
$129,270Median pay in Virginia. 10,210 people work in this job in Virginia. 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
$127,810Median pay in Virginia. 7,110 people work in this job in Virginia. 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
$252,110Median pay in Virginia. 700 people work in this job in Virginia. 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 Mountain Empire Community College
Nursing ranks 1st of 3 associate's programs at Mountain Empire Community College by first-year earnings. The others are Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($58,346) and Liberal Arts and General Studies ($20,005).
Other nursing associate's programs near Big Stone Gap
Common questions
The median graduate earns $62,303 one year after graduating and $64,330 five years after. Registered nurses in Virginia earn a median of $93,600 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $7,475, which ranks the lowest of 24 nursing associate's programs in Virginia. That works out to about $79 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 12% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 29%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Virginia programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 84% (63 of 75) were working in Virginia 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 Virginia 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