Undergraduate certificate · Wilkes Barre, Pennsylvania

Is Practical Nursing, Vocational Nursing and Nursing Assistants at Wilkes-Barre Area Career and Technical Center Practical Nursing worth it?

Medium confidence Medium confidence: 40–99 graduates behind the earnings figures.

The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans

Pays back fast: graduates typically recover the cost in about 1.4 years.

Earnings 1 year after graduating: $57,135; Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Earnings 4 years after graduating: $58,977; Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
Typical federal debt at graduation: $17,678; NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
Net cost to graduate, all families: $21k (likely $21k – $21k); AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
Earnings bump, year 4: $20k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in PA; 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
Payback: 1.4 years (likely 1.1–1.9); Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
10-year net return: $133k (likely $80k – $191k); Today's dollars
20-year net return: $328k (likely $223k – $449k); Today's dollars
Odds of finishing (school-wide): 50%; Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
Borrowers making progress / in default, 2 years in: not reported / ≤ 10%; NSLDS AY2016-17, AY2017-18 pooled cohorts measured in 2018-19, 2019-20