Rock Valley College Practical Nursing (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants
- Public college
- Rockford, IL
- About 231 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Rock Valley College practical nursing graduates earn less than graduates of most practical nursing programs nationally, $27,497 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $8,018 in federal loans, less than at 94% of practical nursing programs in the country. Debt is low, but pay is also below the Illinois median of $42,399.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Illinois and national columns are the medians across all practical nursing certificate programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Rock Valley College graduates earn less than the national figure and about the same as the Illinois median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois practical 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 54% between the first and fifth year. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in Illinois earn a median of $75,000 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 licensed practical and vocational nurses at every experience level.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $85 a month, or 3.7% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
80% of graduates (20 of 25) were working in Illinois one year after graduating. Prices in the Rockford area are about 8% below the national average, so a $27,497 salary here buys what about $29,838 buys in a typical US city.
The median Illinois LPN or LVN earns $75,000, compared with a national median of $64,400. After adjusting for Illinois prices, that pay is worth about $75,032, which puts Illinois 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
$45,960Median pay in Illinois. 68,640 people work in this job in Illinois. 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
$75,000Median pay in Illinois. 17,440 people work in this job in Illinois. 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 Rock Valley College
Practical Nursing ranks 2nd of 2 certificate programs at Rock Valley College by first-year earnings. The other is Vehicle Maintenance and Repair ($41,625).
Other practical nursing certificate programs near Rockford
Common questions
The median graduate earns $27,497 one year after graduating and $42,236 five years after. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in the Rockford metro area earn a median of $70,090 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $8,018, which ranks 4th lowest of 22 practical nursing certificate programs in Illinois. That works out to about $85 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 29% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 34%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Illinois programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 80% (20 of 25) 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 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