Rock Valley College Nursing (ADN): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing
- Public college
- Rockford, IL
- About 19 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Rock Valley College nursing graduates earn about what nursing graduates earn nationally, $68,229 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $15,750 in federal loans, less than at 76% of nursing programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying nursing degrees in Illinois.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Illinois and national columns are the medians across all nursing associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Rock Valley College graduates earn more than the national figure and about $12,021 more than the Illinois median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois nursing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Illinois 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 23% between the first and fifth year. Registered nurses in Illinois earn a median of $95,990 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 $167 a month, or 2.9% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
87% of graduates (34 of 39) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the Rockford area are about 8% below the national average, so a $68,229 salary here buys what about $74,038 buys in a typical US city.
The median Illinois RN earns $95,990, compared with a national median of $97,550. After adjusting for Illinois prices, that pay is worth about $96,030, which puts Illinois slightly 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
$95,990Median pay in Illinois. 138,910 people work in this job in Illinois. 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
$117,850Median pay in Illinois. 22,460 people work in this job in Illinois. 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
$130,680Median pay in Illinois. 9,270 people work in this job in Illinois. 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
$286,830Median pay in Illinois. 1,140 people work in this job in Illinois. 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 Rock Valley College
Nursing ranks 1st of 4 associate's programs at Rock Valley College by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($68,229), Dental Hygiene and Assisting ($59,574), and Liberal Arts and General Studies ($27,601).
Other nursing associate's programs near Rockford
Common questions
The median graduate earns $68,229 one year after graduating and $84,227 five years after. Registered nurses in the Rockford metro area earn a median of $80,930 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $15,750, which ranks 21st lowest of 33 nursing associate's programs in Illinois. That works out to about $167 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 23% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 29%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Illinois programs report higher pay.
Most do. 87% (34 of 39) were working in Illinois 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 Illinois 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