Southeast Missouri Hospital College of Nursing and Health Sciences Nursing (ADN): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing
- Private nonprofit college
- Cape Girardeau, MO
- About 30 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Southeast Missouri Hospital College of Nursing and Health Sciences nursing graduates earn about what nursing graduates earn nationally, $67,421 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $23,500 in federal loans, close to the national median of $20,423. It is one of the higher-paying nursing degrees in Missouri.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Missouri and national columns are the medians across all nursing associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Southeast Missouri Hospital College of Nursing and Health Sciences graduates earn less than the national figure and about the same as the Missouri median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Missouri nursing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Missouri 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 falls about 2% between the first and fifth year. Registered nurses in Missouri earn a median of $81,780 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 $249 a month, or 4.4% 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
71% of graduates (30 of 42) were working in Missouri one year after graduating. Prices in the Cape Girardeau area are about 14% below the national average, so a $67,421 salary here buys what about $78,325 buys in a typical US city.
The median Missouri RN earns $81,780, compared with a national median of $97,550. After adjusting for Missouri prices, that pay is worth about $90,049, which puts Missouri 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
$81,780Median pay in Missouri. 76,310 people work in this job in Missouri. 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
$104,370Median pay in Missouri. 10,800 people work in this job in Missouri. 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
$129,930Median pay in Missouri. 7,710 people work in this job in Missouri. 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
$242,630Median pay in Missouri. 1,550 people work in this job in Missouri. 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 Southeast Missouri Hospital College of Nursing and Health Sciences
Nursing is the only associate's program at Southeast Missouri Hospital College of Nursing and Health Sciences that reports first-year earnings.
Other nursing associate's programs near Cape Girardeau
Common questions
The median graduate earns $67,421 one year after graduating and $65,830 five years after. Registered nurses in the Cape Girardeau metro area earn a median of $82,640 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $23,500, which ranks 13th lowest of 20 nursing associate's programs in Missouri. That works out to about $249 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 35% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 29%. Compare the cost with other Missouri programs before deciding.
Most do. 71% (30 of 42) were working in Missouri 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 Missouri 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