Which Rio Grande Valley College certificate program has the lowest debt?

Allied Health and Medical Assisting graduates leave with a median of $8,947 in federal loans, the lowest among 4 Rio Grande Valley College certificate programs that report debt.

How much does Rio Grande Valley College cost?

Tuition and fees for the school's largest program are $29,400 for the whole program. After grants and scholarships, the average net price for that program is $19,500.

How many Rio Grande Valley College programs report graduate pay?

One associate's program and 4 certificate programs at Rio Grande Valley College report first-year pay, and all of them also report federal debt.

Rio Grande Valley College Programs, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

Private for-profit college
Pharr, TX
808 undergraduates

College Scorecard June 2026 release

The short answer

4 Rio Grande Valley College certificate programs report what graduates earn. Practical Nursing pays the most in the first year ($46,825), and Allied Health and Medical Assisting the least ($17,989). The median program pays $33,740. Rio Grande Valley College also has one associate's program that reports pay.

Tuition for the largest program$29,400Tuition and fees for the whole program

Net price, largest program$19,500After aid, for the whole program

Graduation rate72%Within 1.5 times the normal program length

One associate's program

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in Texas" compares first-year pay with the same field's associate's programs across Texas.

Program	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Rank in Texas
NursingAbout 43 graduates a year	$77,845	Not reported	$27,226	9th of 49

Program names link to the program's own page, and Texas ranks link to the full ranking for the field.

All 4 certificate programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in Texas" compares first-year pay with the same field's certificate programs across Texas. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	Program	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Rank in Texas
1	Practical NursingAbout 358 graduates a year	$46,825	Not reported	$14,117	15th of 37
2	NursingGraduates a year not reported	$45,266	$52,221	$17,247	1st of 1
3	Health and Medical AdministrationGraduates a year not reported	$22,214	Not reported	$9,403	16th of 20
4	Allied Health and Medical AssistingAbout 109 graduates a year	$17,989	$30,064	$8,947	22nd of 23

Program names link to the program's own page, and Texas ranks link to the full ranking for the field. A program gets its own page when it reports both pay and debt and at least five Texas programs in the field do too.

Common questions

Practical Nursing graduates earn a median of $46,825 in their first year, the most of 4 Rio Grande Valley College certificate programs that report pay.

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Tuition, net price, graduation rate, and admission rate are for the whole school, not one program.
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 rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
NCES, IPEDS tuition and fees, 2023-24, for in-district tuition labels