Somerset Community College Nursing (ADN): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing
- Public college
- Somerset, KY
- About 65 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Somerset Community College nursing graduates earn less than graduates of most nursing programs nationally, $62,747 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $15,842 in federal loans, less than at 76% of nursing programs in the country. Debt is low, but pay is also below the Kentucky median of $64,662.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Kentucky and national columns are the medians across all nursing associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Somerset Community College graduates earn less than the national figure but about $2,121 more than the Kentucky median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Kentucky nursing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Kentucky 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 10% between the first and fifth year. Registered nurses in Kentucky earn a median of $81,040 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 $168 a month, or 3.2% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
97% of graduates (65 of 67) were working in Kentucky one year after graduating. Prices in the parts of Kentucky outside metro areas are about 15% below the national average, so a $62,747 salary here buys what about $73,602 buys in a typical US city.
The median Kentucky RN earns $81,040, compared with a national median of $97,550. After adjusting for Kentucky prices, that pay is worth about $89,886, which puts Kentucky 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
$81,040Median pay in Kentucky. 50,300 people work in this job in Kentucky. 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
$103,450Median pay in Kentucky. 8,600 people work in this job in Kentucky. 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
$122,870Median pay in Kentucky. 4,770 people work in this job in Kentucky. 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
$222,520Median pay in Kentucky. 1,640 people work in this job in Kentucky. 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 Somerset Community College
Nursing ranks 1st of 10 associate's programs at Somerset Community College by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($62,747), Heavy Equipment Maintenance ($57,318), and Allied Health and Medical Assisting ($46,829).
Other nursing associate's programs near Somerset
Common questions
The median graduate earns $62,747 one year after graduating and $69,162 five years after. Registered nurses in Kentucky earn a median of $81,040 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $15,842, which ranks 4th lowest of 26 nursing associate's programs in Kentucky. That works out to about $168 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 25% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 29%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Kentucky programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 97% (65 of 67) were working in Kentucky 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 Kentucky 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