Is Nurse Practitioner School Worth the Debt?

Should you borrow for a nurse practitioner degree? For most prospective students, looking at the question from a purely financial point of view, the answer is yes.This article will focus on the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) degree in particular.Nurse practitioner (NP) programs can be shorter than those for some other professions.For example, the program at the University of North Carolina advertises a three-year program length, although many DNP programs take four years on average.  The average earnings of NPs are often higher than those of some professions that require longer training (for example, veterinary school is generally always four years and requires a doctoral degree, yet veterinarians earn less on average than nurse practitioners).

We’ll look at the distribution of NP incomes and evaluate the return on investment (ROI) of a DNP degree, whether you’re looking at public or private degree programs.  How much do nurse practitioners earn? We did a survey of 137 NPs who read Student Loan Planner’s weekly newsletter in mid-2025 and asked them about their incomes and student loan amounts.Here’s the distribution of reported incomes from our 2025 reader survey: PercentileNurse practitioner income10th$101,16025th$120,000Average$151,06575th$159,50090th$200,000 Average student debt among nurse practitioners The average student debt among our NP readers was $154,410.Other professions end up with far more student debt than this on average.For example, our average dentist reader owes over $400,000 in student debt.

Some DNP programs allow for an accelerated graduation date, too.When a program is shorter, you also get back into the workforce sooner, earning an income again (i.e., you avoid the opportunity cost of a program that requires four or more years of school).The big differentiator in the cost of NP programs is whether you go to a public or private university.We’ll analyze a scenario of someone who could choose between Duke University (a private DNP program) and the University of North Carolina (a public DNP program) to see if one or both schools have a positive ROI.

Is a DNP degree worth it? ROI at public vs.private schools Want to see the full calculator walkthrough? Take a look at the video analysis below.Comparing UNC and Duke: The cost breakdown A DNP degree at UNC runs about $9,200 a semester for in-state tuition over a three-year program.Duke calls its program a four-year program at about $16,000 per semester.

Factor in tuition plus about $20,000 a year in living expenses, and UNC comes out to a total cost of about $115,000.Duke comes in at about $230,000 — so, basically double.The exciting news for prospective NP students is that most programs represent a positive return on investment compared to what you could earn with only a bachelor's degree.ROI for the average NP Let's start with a UNC example to show how the math plays out.

Depending on caps for federal student loans, you might have to borrow a little under $20,000 a year for the UNC program.You'd owe about $130,000 after graduation.You'd have two different payments to make: your federal student loan payments and your private student loan payments.Collectively, nurse practitioner student loan repayment would start off on the low side for the federal student loans, and then they'd ramp up.

If you're an average nurse practitioner, based on the salaries we've seen from our nurse practitioner readers at Student Loan Planner, you'd have an adjusted gross income (AGI) of right around $150,000 or so.The after-tax income on that would be about $114,000.Taxes and student loan payments would leave you with about $90,000.So about 21% of your income will be going toward student loans in this case.

Now compare that to not getting the degree — just having a $70,000 income as a registered nurse (RN).Your after-tax income would be about $58,000.Comparing those two, you're substantially better off as a nurse practitioner.Duke's higher program cost roughly doubles the debt load, which means a larger share of your after-tax income goes to loan payments in the early years.

Even so, the after-tax gap between an average NP and a $70,000 RN is wide enough that a Duke graduate still comes out ahead financially over time.ROI if you're already a high-earning RN What if you could have earned a lot of money just sticking with your nursing degree? With a healthier RN income as your baseline, it's a little more challenging to justify doing the NP degree compared to just staying at the RN level.But if you're going to a public school, this is still a positive ROI.You're making $11,000 approximately more after taxes and student loan payments than you would have made if you had not pursued the DNP degree.

When your federal student loans are paid off first at this repayment schedule, you'd have $30,000 more after taxes as a DNP versus an RN.And when the private student loans are gone, you're having about $50,000 more after taxes from being a DNP degree holder.If you go to the private university, initially compared to if you're able to earn around $100,000 a year as an RN after graduation, you would actually be worse off.That doesn't last forever.

Once your student loans are fully paid off, you have a break-even period of about 10 years and then you're making about $40,000 to $50,000 more after taxes — this despite the higher cost of the private program.Where to borrow for NP school When taking out private student loans for NP school, make sure you’re using options that give you flexibility post-graduation in case it takes a few more months to get your first paycheck than you expected.Our marketplace of private student loan lenders can be one source you look to for the best student loan deals for NP school.Of course, max out your federal student loans first, as those carry the possibility of interest subsidies at least for the first year or two after graduation if you use the new Repayment Assistance Plan (RAP) effectively.

How to finance your NP degree the smart way Overall, a DNP degree makes financial sense pretty much regardless of whether you get into a public university or private university.The only caveat: if you get into a four-year program that's very expensive, you have a very good income as a nurse and you don't mind the job responsibilities that come with that level of education — that would be the only scenario where you might say you'd rather not do the DNP from a financial perspective.Obviously, you might want to do it for non-financial reasons.If you want more of an in-depth look at the finances of going to nurse practitioner school (or if you’re already in it), consider booking a time with our experts who can walk you through the pros and cons of different financing options.

We’ll go over how to borrow and what to expect after graduation so you’re set up for maximum financial success.Here’s the link if you want an NP school financing consult.