Otero College Practical Nursing (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants
- Public college
- La Junta, CO
- About 51 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release ยท BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Otero College practical nursing graduates earn more than graduates of most practical nursing programs nationally, $74,405 in their first year. Debt is high. The typical graduate leaves with $24,150 in federal loans, more than at 95% of practical nursing programs in the country. It is one of the higher-paying practical nursing programs in Colorado.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Colorado and national columns are the medians across all practical nursing certificate programs that report the figure.
Debt and first-year pay at every Colorado practical nursing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Colorado medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $256 a month, or 4.1% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
89% of graduates (16 of 18) were working in Colorado one year after graduating. Prices in the parts of Colorado outside metro areas are about 2% below the national average, so a $74,405 salary here buys what about $76,309 buys in a typical US city.
The median Colorado LPN or LVN earns $73,880, compared with a national median of $64,400. After adjusting for Colorado prices, that pay is worth about $71,692, which puts Colorado 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
$47,380Median pay in Colorado. 22,240 people work in this job in Colorado. 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
$73,880Median pay in Colorado. 4,920 people work in this job in Colorado. 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 Otero College
Practical Nursing ranks 1st of 2 certificate programs at Otero College by first-year earnings. The other is Criminal Justice ($50,431).
Common questions
The median graduate earns $74,405 one year after graduating. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in Colorado earn a median of $73,880 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $24,150, which ranks 11th lowest of 11 practical nursing certificate programs in Colorado. That works out to about $256 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 32% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 34%.
Most do. 89% (16 of 18) were working in Colorado 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 Colorado 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