Which Minnesota practical nursing program has the lowest debt?

Hennepin Technical College reports the lowest median federal debt, $8,250, with first-year pay of $43,470.

How much do practical nursing graduates earn in Minnesota?

The median across 18 Minnesota practical nursing certificate programs is $42,897 in the first year after graduating and $49,687 five years after. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in Minnesota earn a median of $63,750 across all experience levels.

How many practical nursing certificate programs are in Minnesota?

18 Minnesota programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 16 of them also report federal debt.

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

18 programs report first-year pay
16 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 Minnesota practical nursing certificate program pays its graduates $42,897 in their first year, $1,082 less than the national median. Dakota County Technical College reports the highest first-year pay ($48,973), and Hennepin Technical College the lowest median debt ($8,250).

Median first-year pay$42,897National $43,978

Median pay after 5 years$49,687National $49,702

Median federal debt$18,866National $14,730

Debt-to-earnings45%National 34%

All 18 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	Dakota County Technical CollegeRosemount · public	$48,973	$59,047	$14,010	29%
2	Lake Superior CollegeDuluth · public	$47,190	$49,840	$11,969	25%
3	Rasmussen UniversitySt. Cloud · private for-profit	$45,271	$53,941	$21,274	47%
4	Ridgewater CollegeWillmar · public	$44,921	$38,268	$23,755	53%
5	Riverland Community CollegeAustin · public	$44,726	Not reported	$22,356	50%
6	Saint Paul CollegeSaint Paul · public	$44,393	$43,263	$17,500	39%
7	Northland Community and Technical CollegeThief River Falls · public	$44,017	Not reported	$19,131	43%
8	Hennepin Technical CollegeBrooklyn Park · public	$43,470	$58,267	$8,250	19%
9	Minnesota State College SoutheastWinona · public	$43,145	$52,157	$23,302	54%
10	Anoka Technical CollegeAnoka · public	$42,648	$44,193	$12,000	28%
11	Rochester Community and Technical CollegeRochester · public	$42,200	$47,072	$20,228	48%
12	Northwest Technical CollegeBemidji · public	$41,497	$44,377	Not reported	Not reported
13	Minnesota North CollegeHibbing · public	$41,300	$48,294	Not reported	Not reported
14	St Cloud Technical and Community CollegeSaint Cloud · public	$39,897	$49,687	$23,836	60%
15	Minnesota State Community and Technical CollegeFergus Falls · public	$39,109	$47,642	$19,700	50%
16	Alexandria Technical & Community CollegeAlexandria · public	$38,862	$44,189	$13,671	35%
17	Pine Technical & Community CollegePine City · public	$37,690	$48,319	$13,625	36%
18	Central Lakes College-BrainerdBrainerd · public	$35,623	$52,189	$18,600	52%

Northwest Technical College and Minnesota North College report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

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

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 16 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Hennepin Technical College$8,250
Lake Superior College$11,969
Anoka Technical College$12,000
Pine Technical & Community College$13,625
Alexandria Technical & Community College$13,671

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 Minnesota

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

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

$63,750

Median pay in Minnesota. 12,840 people work in this job in Minnesota. 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%: $51,700Top 10%: $77,380

Common questions

Dakota County Technical College in Rosemount reports the highest median first-year pay, $48,973. Its median federal debt is $14,010.

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 Minnesota 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