Which Pennsylvania practical nursing program has the lowest debt?

Susquehanna County Career and Technology Center reports the lowest median federal debt, $9,500, with first-year pay of $42,238.

How much do practical nursing graduates earn in Pennsylvania?

The median across 35 Pennsylvania practical nursing certificate programs is $47,793 in the first year after graduating and $49,412 five years after. Licensed practical and vocational nurses in Pennsylvania earn a median of $63,940 across all experience levels.

How many practical nursing certificate programs are in Pennsylvania?

35 Pennsylvania programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 34 of them also report federal debt.

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

35 programs report first-year pay
34 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 Pennsylvania practical nursing certificate program pays its graduates $47,793 in their first year, $3,815 more than the national median. Delaware County Technical School-Practical Nursing Program reports the highest first-year pay ($65,986), and Susquehanna County Career and Technology Center the lowest median debt ($9,500).

Median first-year pay$47,793National $43,978

Median pay after 5 years$49,412National $49,702

Median federal debt$17,165National $14,730

Debt-to-earnings37%National 34%

All 35 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	Delaware County Technical School-Practical Nursing ProgramBroomall · public	$65,986	Not reported	$17,375	26%
2	Eastern Center for Arts and TechnologyWillow Grove · public	$56,261	$53,814	$15,026	27%
3	PITC InstituteWyncote · private for-profit	$54,959	$63,176	$20,241	37%
4	Penn StateUniversity Park · public	$54,669	$49,256	$21,000	38%
5	Bucks County Community CollegeNewtown · public	$54,103	$55,754	$16,672	31%
6	Reading Area Community CollegeReading · public	$53,953	Not reported	$19,041	35%
7	Pennsylvania Institute of TechnologyMedia · private nonprofit	$52,794	$57,020	$24,218	46%
8	Greene County Career and Technology CenterWaynesburg · public	$52,150	$48,781	$16,325	31%
9	Indiana County Technology CenterIndiana · public	$51,048	$49,568	$20,565	40%
10	Lancaster County Career and Technology CenterWillow Street · public	$49,922	$53,206	$18,215	36%
11	Prism Career Institute-PhiladelphiaPhiladelphia · private for-profit	$49,653	$52,362	$21,599	43%
12	Northampton County Area Community CollegeBethlehem · public	$49,105	Not reported	$23,033	47%
13	Franklin County Career and Technology CenterChambersburg · public	$48,947	$48,458	$14,760	30%
14	Somerset County Technology CenterSomerset · public	$48,397	Not reported	$17,083	35%
15	Career Technology Center of Lackawanna CountyScranton · public	$47,934	$49,846	$17,200	36%
16	Greater Altoona Career & Technology CenterAltoona · public	$47,891	Not reported	$17,867	37%
17	York County School of Technology-Adult & Continuing EducationYork · public	$47,870	$55,779	$14,894	31%
18	Lehigh Carbon Community CollegeSchnecksville · public	$47,793	Not reported	$20,041	42%
19	Falcon Institute of Health and ScienceBethlehem · private for-profit	$47,352	Not reported	$16,808	35%
20	Greater Johnstown Career and Technology CenterJohnstown · public	$46,837	$54,162	$17,690	38%
21	Penn Commercial Business/Technical SchoolWashington · private for-profit	$44,941	Not reported	$16,971	38%
22	Western Area Career & Technology CenterCanonsburg · public	$44,872	Not reported	$16,500	37%
23	Chester County Intermediate UnitDowningtown · public	$44,616	$53,084	$18,075	41%
24	Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center Practical NursingWilkes Barre · public	$44,551	$45,675	$20,740	47%
25	Lenape Technical School Practical Nursing ProgramFord City · public	$43,502	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
26	Fayette County Career & Technical Institute Practical Nursing ProgramUniontown · public	$42,251	$40,567	$17,130	41%
27	Susquehanna County Career and Technology CenterSpringville · public	$42,238	$37,960	$9,500	22%
28	Central Susquehanna Intermediate Unit LPN CareerMilton · public	$41,738	$46,714	$15,472	37%
29	Central Pennsylvania Institute of Science and TechnologyPleasant Gap · public	$41,624	$39,835	$19,279	46%
30	Northern Tier Career CenterTowanda · public	$41,346	$41,285	$14,750	36%
31	Mifflin County Academy of Science and TechnologyLewistown · public	$41,319	$40,350	$12,731	31%
32	Great Lakes Institute of TechnologyErie · private for-profit	$41,229	Not reported	$23,958	58%
33	Venango County Area Vocational Technical SchoolOil City · public	$40,285	$40,323	$14,677	36%
34	Jefferson County DuBois Area Vocational Technical SchoolReynoldsville · public	$38,646	Not reported	$14,125	37%
35	Clearfield County Career and Technology CenterClearfield · public	$38,383	$43,066	$14,750	38%

Lenape Technical School Practical Nursing Program reports pay but not debt, so it is ranked only by pay.

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

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 34 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Delaware County Technical School-Practical Nursing Program$65,986
Eastern Center for Arts and Technology$56,261
PITC Institute$54,959
Penn State$54,669
Bucks County Community College$54,103

Lowest median debt

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 Pennsylvania

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

Licensed Practical and Licensed Vocational Nurses

$63,940

Median pay in Pennsylvania. 38,260 people work in this job in Pennsylvania. 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%: $51,500Top 10%: $77,750

Common questions

Delaware County Technical School-Practical Nursing Program in Broomall reports the highest median first-year pay, $65,986. Its median federal debt is $17,375.

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 Pennsylvania 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