Which Illinois practical nursing program has the lowest debt?

Illinois Valley Community College reports the lowest median federal debt, $7,058, with first-year pay of $29,115.

How much do practical nursing graduates earn in Illinois?

The median across 26 Illinois practical nursing certificate programs is $42,399 in the first year after graduating and $43,445 five years after. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in Illinois earn a median of $75,000 across all experience levels.

How many practical nursing certificate programs are in Illinois?

26 Illinois programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 22 of them also report federal debt.

Practical Nursing (Certificate) Programs in Illinois, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

26 programs report first-year pay
22 also report federal debt
Certificate in Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Illinois practical nursing certificate program pays its graduates $42,399 in their first year, $1,579 less than the national median. Ambria College of Nursing reports the highest first-year pay ($64,712), and Illinois Valley Community College the lowest median debt ($7,058).

Median first-year pay$42,399National $43,978

Median pay after 5 years$43,445National $49,702

Median federal debt$10,375National $14,730

Debt-to-earnings28%National 34%

All 26 programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	School	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Debt to pay
1	Ambria College of NursingHoffman Estates · private for-profit	$64,712	$71,357	$11,878	18%
2	Verve CollegeOak Brook · private for-profit	$63,593	$73,721	$14,933	23%
3	Illinois Eastern Community CollegesOlney · public	$56,008	Not reported	$7,500	13%
4	CAAN Academy of NursingMatteson · private nonprofit	$55,822	Not reported	$22,398	40%
5	Illinois Central CollegeEast Peoria · public	$55,604	Not reported	$12,700	23%
6	MDT College of Health SciencesChicago · private for-profit	$54,894	$64,733	$26,250	48%
7	Shawnee Community CollegeUllin · public	$54,323	Not reported	$11,162	21%
8	Capital Area Career CenterSpringfield · public	$52,517	$51,437	$12,918	25%
9	Rend Lake CollegeIna · public	$49,729	$20,030	Not reported	Not reported
10	Black Hawk CollegeMoline · public	$45,993	$43,771	$12,467	27%
11	Career Center of Southern IllinoisRed Bud · public	$45,941	$52,092	$16,978	37%
12	Kaskaskia CollegeCentralia · public	$43,289	$49,734	Not reported	Not reported
13	Richland Community CollegeDecatur · public	$43,042	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
14	Lake Land CollegeMattoon · public	$41,756	$35,229	$7,750	19%
15	John A Logan CollegeCarterville · public	$39,802	Not reported	$12,000	30%
16	William Rainey Harper CollegePalatine · public	$36,528	$54,134	$8,750	24%
17	City Colleges of Chicago-Malcolm X CollegeChicago · public	$36,493	Not reported	$9,500	26%
18	Sauk Valley Community CollegeDixon · public	$36,277	$30,951	$15,742	43%
19	College of DuPageGlen Ellyn · public	$31,086	Not reported	$11,000	35%
20	Prairie State CollegeChicago Heights · public	$30,067	Not reported	$12,554	42%
21	Lincoln Land Community CollegeSpringfield · public	$29,851	$32,119	$8,422	28%
22	Illinois Valley Community CollegeOglesby · public	$29,115	$43,119	$7,058	24%
23	Rock Valley CollegeRockford · public	$27,497	$42,236	$8,018	29%
24	Danville Area Community CollegeDanville · public	$26,484	$62,666	$9,126	34%
25	Kishwaukee CollegeMalta · public	$26,141	$37,969	Not reported	Not reported
26	Southwestern Illinois CollegeBelleville · public	$22,351	$36,693	$9,500	43%

Rend Lake College, Kaskaskia College, Richland Community College, and Kishwaukee College report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay. 8 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every Illinois practical nursing program

Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Illinois medians.

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 22 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Ambria College of Nursing$64,712
Verve College$63,593
Illinois Eastern Community Colleges$56,008
CAAN Academy of Nursing$55,822
Illinois Central College$55,604

Lowest median debt

Illinois Valley Community College$7,058
Illinois Eastern Community Colleges$7,500
Lake Land College$7,750
Rock Valley College$8,018
Lincoln Land Community College$8,422

Lowest debt for the pay

"Debt for the pay" is median debt divided by first-year pay. Only programs that report both figures are included.

What licensed practical and vocational nurses earn in Illinois

Pay for licensed practical and vocational nurses in Illinois, across all experience levels, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

$75,000

Median pay in Illinois. 17,440 people work in this job in Illinois. 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.

Bottom 10%: $58,880Top 10%: $89,810

Common questions

Ambria College of Nursing in Hoffman Estates reports the highest median first-year pay, $64,712. Its median federal debt is $11,878.

Practical Nursing (Certificate) programs in the US, ranked633 programs by pay and debt

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
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 Illinois rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the practical nursing certificate programs that report each figure, so the counts differ by figure. Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.

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
NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024