Southern Maine Community College Nursing (ADN): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing
- Public college
- South Portland, ME
- About 103 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Southern Maine Community College nursing graduates earn about what nursing graduates earn nationally, $67,850 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $24,496 in federal loans, close to the national median of $20,423. Several Maine programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Maine and national columns are the medians across all nursing associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Southern Maine Community College graduates earn about the national figure and about the same as the Maine median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Maine nursing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Maine 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 7% between the first and fifth year. Registered nurses in Maine earn a median of $86,990 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.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned $3,954 less in their first year than other graduates. They also borrowed more. Students who expect to rely on grants should weigh this gap.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $260 a month, or 4.6% 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. Separately, 26 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $15,335.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
97% of graduates (89 of 92) were working in Maine one year after graduating. Prices in the Portland area are about 2% above the national average, so a $67,850 salary here buys what about $66,612 buys in a typical US city.
The median Maine RN earns $86,990, compared with a national median of $97,550. After adjusting for Maine prices, that pay is worth about $89,634, which puts Maine 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
$86,990Median pay in Maine. 16,540 people work in this job in Maine. 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
$120,320Median pay in Maine. 2,450 people work in this job in Maine. 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
$130,260Median pay in Maine. 1,650 people work in this job in Maine. 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
$247,470Median pay in Maine. 380 people work in this job in Maine. 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 Southern Maine Community College
Nursing ranks 1st of 13 associate's programs at Southern Maine Community College by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($67,850), Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($64,549), and Drafting and Design Technology ($45,319).
Other nursing associate's programs near South Portland
Common questions
The median graduate earns $67,850 one year after graduating and $72,849 five years after. Registered nurses in the Portland metro area earn a median of $88,470 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $24,496, which ranks 3rd lowest of 6 nursing associate's programs in Maine. That works out to about $260 a month over 10 years.
It depends on your other options. Debt equals 36% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 29%. Compare the cost with other Maine programs before deciding.
Most do. 97% (89 of 92) were working in Maine 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 Maine 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