Which Ohio nursing program has the lowest debt?

Mid-EastCTC-Adult Education reports the lowest median federal debt, $20,028, with first-year pay of $66,398.

How much do nursing graduates earn in Ohio?

The median across 10 Ohio nursing certificate programs is $66,677 in the first year after graduating and $67,654 five years after. Registered nurses in Ohio earn a median of $82,510 across all experience levels.

How many nursing certificate programs are in Ohio?

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

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

10 programs report first-year pay
10 also report federal debt
Certificate in Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing

College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025

The short answer

The median Ohio nursing certificate program pays its graduates $66,677 in their first year, $279 more than the national median. Ohio Institute of Allied Health reports the highest first-year pay ($74,851), and Mid-EastCTC-Adult Education the lowest median debt ($20,028).

Median first-year pay$66,677National $66,398

Median pay after 5 years$67,654National $72,650

Median federal debt$25,529National $23,858

Debt-to-earnings36%National 38%

All 10 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	Ohio Institute of Allied HealthHuber Heights · private nonprofit	$74,851	Not reported	$26,003	35%
2	Ohio Medical Career CollegeDayton · private for-profit	$71,666	Not reported	$26,331	37%
3	Trinity Health System School of NursingSteubenville · private nonprofit	$67,928	$72,487	$20,689	30%
4	Athena Career AcademyToledo · private for-profit	$67,468	Not reported	$36,820	55%
5	Collins Career Technical CenterChesapeake · public	$66,955	Not reported	$23,629	35%
6	Mid-EastCTC-Adult EducationZanesville · public	$66,398	Not reported	$20,028	30%
7	Tri-Rivers Career CenterMarion · public	$66,259	Not reported	$26,278	40%
8	Sandusky Career CenterSandusky · public	$64,563	Not reported	$25,055	39%
9	Firelands Regional Medical Center School of NursingSandusky · private nonprofit	$64,065	$62,820	$29,535	46%
10	Columbiana County Career and Technical CenterLisbon · public	$63,454	Not reported	$20,637	33%

Debt and first-year pay at every Ohio nursing program

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

Ohio Institute of Allied Health$74,851
Ohio Medical Career College$71,666
Trinity Health System School of Nursing$67,928
Athena Career Academy$67,468
Collins Career Technical Center$66,955

Lowest median debt

Mid-EastCTC-Adult Education$20,028
Columbiana County Career and Technical Center$20,637
Trinity Health System School of Nursing$20,689
Collins Career Technical Center$23,629
Sandusky Career Center$25,055

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 Ohio

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

Registered Nurses

$82,510

Median pay in Ohio. 143,730 people work in this job in Ohio. 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%: $66,980Top 10%: $105,290

Common questions

Ohio Institute of Allied Health in Huber Heights reports the highest median first-year pay, $74,851. Its median federal debt is $26,003.

Nursing (Certificate) programs in the US, ranked41 programs by pay and debt Nursing (BSN) programs in Ohio, ranked38 programs by pay and debt Nursing (ADN) programs in Ohio, ranked33 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 Ohio rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Medians are across the 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