Which Kentucky nursing program has the lowest debt?

Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College reports the lowest median federal debt, $11,729, with first-year pay of $61,155.

How much do nursing graduates earn in Kentucky?

The median across 26 Kentucky nursing associate's programs is $64,662 in the first year after graduating and $67,041 five years after. Registered nurses in Kentucky earn a median of $81,040 across all experience levels.

How many nursing associate's programs are in Kentucky?

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

Nursing (ADN) Programs in Kentucky, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

26 programs report first-year pay
26 also report federal debt
Associate's in Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Kentucky nursing associate's program pays its graduates $64,662 in their first year, $3,860 less than the national median. University of Pikeville reports the highest first-year pay ($76,570), and Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College the lowest median debt ($11,729).

Median first-year pay$64,662National $68,521

Median pay after 5 years$67,041National $74,126

Median federal debt$22,750National $20,423

Debt-to-earnings35%National 29%

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	University of PikevillePikeville · private nonprofit	$76,570	$77,986	$17,140	22%
2	American National University-LouisvilleLouisville · private for-profit	$75,979	Not reported	$30,205	40%
3	Morehead StateMorehead · public	$69,929	$67,669	$30,000	43%
4	Sullivan UniversityLouisville · private for-profit	$68,824	$80,453	$47,035	68%
5	Galen College of Nursing-LouisvilleLouisville · private for-profit	$68,114	$78,480	$34,859	51%
6	Gateway Community and Technical CollegeFlorence · public	$67,888	$74,820	$23,376	34%
7	Eastern Kentucky UniversityRichmond · public	$66,512	$65,930	$24,000	36%
8	Hopkinsville Community CollegeHopkinsville · public	$65,979	$57,978	$19,409	29%
9	Hazard Community and Technical CollegeHazard · public	$65,822	$47,001	$17,750	27%
10	Big Sandy Community and Technical CollegePrestonsburg · public	$65,735	$68,496	$17,550	27%
11	Beckfield College-FlorenceFlorence · private for-profit	$65,659	$67,487	$36,983	56%
12	Ashland Community and Technical CollegeAshland · public	$64,909	$67,041	$18,756	29%
13	Western Kentucky UniversityBowling Green · public	$64,845	$66,983	$21,000	32%
14	ATA College (Kentucky)Louisville · private for-profit	$64,478	$75,209	$43,416	67%
15	Maysville Community and Technical CollegeMaysville · public	$64,217	$67,466	$24,000	37%
16	Jefferson Community and Technical CollegeLouisville · public	$63,784	$68,555	$23,271	36%
17	Bluegrass Community and Technical CollegeLexington · public	$62,832	$66,389	$24,755	39%
18	Somerset Community CollegeSomerset · public	$62,747	$69,162	$15,842	25%
19	Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical CollegeBowling Green · public	$62,552	$62,495	$18,523	30%
20	Midway UniversityMidway · private nonprofit	$62,012	$59,943	$26,750	43%
21	Elizabethtown Community and Technical CollegeElizabethtown · public	$62,002	$58,868	$13,137	21%
22	Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical CollegeCumberland · public	$61,155	$64,119	$11,729	19%
23	West Kentucky Community and Technical CollegePaducah · public	$58,951	$62,565	$13,000	22%
24	Henderson Community CollegeHenderson · public	$58,754	$71,427	$22,750	39%
25	Campbellsville UniversityCampbellsville · private nonprofit	$57,093	$61,882	$27,539	48%
26	Madisonville Community CollegeMadisonville · public	$55,532	$60,597	$16,999	31%

One more program reports debt but not pay, so it isn't listed.

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 the 26 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

University of Pikeville$76,570
American National University-Louisville$75,979
Morehead State$69,929
Sullivan University$68,824
Galen College of Nursing-Louisville$68,114

Lowest median debt

Southeast Kentucky Community & Technical College$11,729
West Kentucky Community and Technical College$13,000
Elizabethtown Community and Technical College$13,137
Somerset Community College$15,842
Madisonville Community College$16,999

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 registered nurses earn in Kentucky

Pay for registered nurses in Kentucky, across all experience levels, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Registered Nurses

$81,040

Median 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.

Bottom 10%: $64,170Top 10%: $111,750

Common questions

University of Pikeville in Pikeville reports the highest median first-year pay, $76,570. Its median federal debt is $17,140.

Nursing (ADN) programs in the US, ranked845 programs by pay and debt Nursing (BSN) programs in Kentucky, ranked19 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 Kentucky rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the nursing associate's 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