SOWELA Technical Community College Practical Nursing (Certificate): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Certificate in Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants
- Public college
- Lake Charles, LA
- About 55 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
SOWELA Technical Community College practical nursing graduates earn about what practical nursing graduates earn nationally, $43,365 in their first year. Where this program stands out is debt. The typical graduate leaves with $8,000 in federal loans, less than at 94% of practical nursing programs in the country. Strong value, but not one of the highest-paying practical nursing programs in Louisiana.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Louisiana and national columns are the medians across all practical nursing certificate programs that report the figure.
Five years out, SOWELA Technical Community College graduates earn less than the national figure and about $2,523 less than the Louisiana median. Several Louisiana programs with higher debt show higher pay by the five-year mark.
Debt and first-year pay at every Louisiana practical nursing program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Louisiana 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. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in Louisiana earn a median of $57,470 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 2.4% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
96% of graduates (45 of 47) were working in Louisiana one year after graduating. Prices in the Lake Charles area are about 14% below the national average, so a $43,365 salary here buys what about $50,511 buys in a typical US city.
The median Louisiana LPN or LVN earns $57,470, compared with a national median of $64,400. After adjusting for Louisiana prices, that pay is worth about $65,154, which puts Louisiana slightly 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
$30,510Median pay in Louisiana. 20,690 people work in this job in Louisiana. 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
$57,470Median pay in Louisiana. 17,600 people work in this job in Louisiana. 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 SOWELA Technical Community College
Practical Nursing is the only certificate program at SOWELA Technical Community College that reports first-year earnings.
Other practical nursing certificate programs near Lake Charles
Common questions
The median graduate earns $43,365 one year after graduating and $42,381 five years after. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in the Lake Charles metro area earn a median of $53,300 across all experience levels.
The median federal loan balance is $8,000, which ranks the lowest of 13 practical nursing certificate programs in Louisiana. That works out to about $85 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 18% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 34%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Louisiana programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 96% (45 of 47) were working in Louisiana 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 Louisiana 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