Which New Jersey practical nursing program has the lowest debt?

Healthcare Training Institute (New Jersey) reports the lowest median federal debt, $9,500, with first-year pay of $35,361.

How much do practical nursing graduates earn in New Jersey?

The median across 12 New Jersey practical nursing certificate programs is $56,954 in the first year after graduating and $64,627 five years after. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in New Jersey earn a median of $75,160 across all experience levels.

How many practical nursing certificate programs are in New Jersey?

12 New Jersey programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 10 of them also report federal debt.

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

12 programs report first-year pay
10 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 New Jersey practical nursing certificate program pays its graduates $56,954 in their first year, $12,976 more than the national median. Holy Name Medical Center-Sister Claire Tynan School of Nursing reports the highest first-year pay ($62,684), and Healthcare Training Institute (New Jersey) the lowest median debt ($9,500).

Median first-year pay$56,954National $43,978

Median pay after 5 years$64,627National $49,702

Median federal debt$16,395National $14,730

Debt-to-earnings32%National 34%

All 12 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	Holy Name Medical Center-Sister Claire Tynan School of NursingEnglewood Cliffs · private nonprofit	$62,684	$58,227	$18,224	29%
2	Essex County CollegeNewark · public	$62,448	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
3	MCVSDFreehold · public	$62,124	Not reported	$10,168	16%
4	Eastwick College-HackensackHackensack · private for-profit	$58,986	$67,362	$23,565	40%
5	Universal Training InstitutePerth Amboy · private for-profit	$58,535	Not reported	$12,953	22%
6	UCNJ Union College of Union County New JerseyCranford · public	$57,957	$63,315	$20,246	35%
7	Jersey CollegeTeterboro · private for-profit	$55,950	$65,939	$18,397	33%
8	Lincoln Technical Institute-IselinIselin · private for-profit	$54,390	$54,521	$17,644	32%
9	Ocean County Vocational-Technical SchoolToms River · public	$49,629	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
10	Berkeley College-Woodland ParkWoodland Park · private for-profit	$46,611	$38,008	$21,527	46%
11	Best Care CollegeEast Orange · private for-profit	$40,687	$78,818	$13,056	32%
12	Healthcare Training Institute (New Jersey)Union · private for-profit	$35,361	Not reported	$9,500	27%

Essex County College and Ocean County Vocational-Technical School report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay. 2 more programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Debt and first-year pay at every New Jersey practical nursing program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 10 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Holy Name Medical Center-Sister Claire Tynan School of Nursing$62,684
Essex County College$62,448
MCVSD$62,124
Eastwick College-Hackensack$58,986
Universal Training Institute$58,535

Lowest median debt

Healthcare Training Institute (New Jersey)$9,500
MCVSD$10,168
Universal Training Institute$12,953
Best Care College$13,056
Lincoln Technical Institute-Iselin$17,644

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 New Jersey

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

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

$75,160

Median pay in New Jersey. 17,410 people work in this job in New Jersey. 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%: $63,210Top 10%: $85,400

Common questions

Holy Name Medical Center-Sister Claire Tynan School of Nursing in Englewood Cliffs reports the highest median first-year pay, $62,684. Its median federal debt is $18,224.

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 New Jersey 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