Sandhills Community College Nursing (ADN): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing
- Public college
- Pinehurst, NC
- About 56 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Sandhills Community College nursing graduates earn about what nursing graduates earn nationally, $66,238 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $12,977 in federal loans, less than at 87% of nursing programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying nursing degrees in North Carolina.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The North Carolina and national columns are the medians across all nursing associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Sandhills Community College graduates earn about the national figure and about $3,594 more than the North Carolina median.
Debt and first-year pay at every North Carolina nursing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the North Carolina 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 11% between the first and fifth year. Registered nurses in North Carolina earn a median of $84,350 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 $138 a month, or 2.5% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
91% of graduates (63 of 69) were working in North Carolina one year after graduating. Prices in the Pinehurst area are about 12% below the national average, so a $66,238 salary here buys what about $74,984 buys in a typical US city.
The median North Carolina RN earns $84,350, compared with a national median of $97,550. After adjusting for North Carolina prices, that pay is worth about $89,424, which puts North Carolina 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
$84,350Median pay in North Carolina. 111,120 people work in this job in North Carolina. 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
$114,410Median pay in North Carolina. 14,820 people work in this job in North Carolina. 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
$128,990Median pay in North Carolina. 9,800 people work in this job in North Carolina. 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
$224,610Median pay in North Carolina. 3,340 people work in this job in North Carolina. 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 Sandhills Community College
Nursing ranks 1st of 3 associate's programs at Sandhills Community College by first-year earnings. The others are Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($51,685) and Liberal Arts and General Studies ($21,553).
Other nursing associate's programs near Pinehurst
Common questions
The median graduate earns $66,238 one year after graduating and $73,822 five years after. Registered nurses in the Pinehurst metro area earn a median of $81,520 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $12,977, which ranks 14th lowest of 36 nursing associate's programs in North Carolina. That works out to about $138 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 20% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 29%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several North Carolina programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 91% (63 of 69) were working in North Carolina 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 North Carolina 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