Which South Carolina nursing program has the lowest debt?

York Technical College reports the lowest median federal debt, $12,500, with first-year pay of $68,550.

How much do nursing graduates earn in South Carolina?

The median across 14 South Carolina nursing associate's programs is $69,399 in the first year after graduating and $75,372 five years after. Registered nurses in South Carolina earn a median of $82,360 across all experience levels.

How many nursing associate's programs are in South Carolina?

14 South Carolina programs report first-year pay for their graduates, and 12 of them also report federal debt.

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

14 programs report first-year pay
12 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 South Carolina nursing associate's program pays its graduates $69,399 in their first year, $878 more than the national median. Tri-County Technical College reports the highest first-year pay ($73,667), and York Technical College the lowest median debt ($12,500).

Median first-year pay$69,399National $68,521

Median pay after 5 years$75,372National $74,126

Median federal debt$23,425National $20,423

Debt-to-earnings33%National 29%

All 14 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	Tri-County Technical CollegePendleton · public	$73,667	$75,993	$21,250	29%
2	Greenville Technical CollegeGreenville · public	$72,879	$72,911	$25,796	35%
3	Orangeburg Calhoun Technical CollegeOrangeburg · public	$72,237	$67,582	$19,900	28%
4	Aiken Technical CollegeGraniteville · public	$72,146	Not reported	$22,200	31%
5	Midlands Technical CollegeWest Columbia · public	$70,571	$74,968	$24,649	35%
6	Spartanburg Community CollegeSpartanburg · public	$70,419	$76,227	$12,894	18%
7	Piedmont Technical CollegeGreenwood · public	$69,883	$75,776	$27,250	39%
8	Central Carolina Technical CollegeSumter · public	$68,914	$69,588	$20,838	30%
9	York Technical CollegeRock Hill · public	$68,550	$76,278	$12,500	18%
10	Northeastern Technical CollegeCheraw · public	$68,001	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported
11	Trident Technical CollegeCharleston · public	$67,607	Not reported	$30,938	46%
12	Technical College of the LowcountryBeaufort · public	$66,628	$77,312	$24,719	37%
13	Horry-Georgetown Technical CollegeConway · public	$66,034	$73,559	$32,170	49%
14	USC LancasterLancaster · public	$65,139	Not reported	Not reported	Not reported

Northeastern Technical College and USC Lancaster report pay but not debt, so they are ranked only by pay.

Debt and first-year pay at every South Carolina nursing program

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

Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only the 12 programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Tri-County Technical College$73,667
Greenville Technical College$72,879
Orangeburg Calhoun Technical College$72,237
Aiken Technical College$72,146
Midlands Technical College$70,571

Lowest median debt

York Technical College$12,500
Spartanburg Community College$12,894
Orangeburg Calhoun Technical College$19,900
Central Carolina Technical College$20,838
Tri-County Technical College$21,250

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 South Carolina

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

Registered Nurses

$82,360

Median pay in South Carolina. 49,750 people work in this job in South Carolina. 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%: $66,860Top 10%: $106,520

Common questions

Tri-County Technical College in Pendleton reports the highest median first-year pay, $73,667. Its median federal debt is $21,250.

Nursing (ADN) programs in the US, ranked845 programs by pay and debt Nursing (BSN) programs in South Carolina, ranked15 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 South Carolina 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