Is Halifax Community College Worth It?

Halifax Community College gives you a low-cost, low-return baseline that swings hard on the program you pick. At about $4,073 a year, your tuition risk is small, but the $31,644 median earnings ten years out sits below what a single strong program here can deliver, which tells you the median is dragging on weak choices.

Nursing is the clear payoff. A registered nursing associate degree here lands you near $53,000, and dental support services follows close behind in the mid-$40,000s. Both are two-year credentials feeding steady healthcare demand in rural northeastern North Carolina, where hospitals and clinics need licensed staff regardless of the local economy. If you finish one of these, your return beats the school's median by more than $20,000.

Health and medical administrative services is the trap. At roughly $20,140, that associate degree pays less than a third of what nursing pays for a similar time investment and cost. Same building, same tuition, wildly different outcome. Do not assume every health-labeled program here carries the nursing paycheck.

The real risk is completion. Fewer than half of you finish, so the cheap tuition only pays off if you graduate. Drop out mid-program and you carry the cost with no credential to show for it, and in a region with limited high-wage jobs, an unfinished degree strands you.

This school fits you if you want a nursing or dental credential, live near Weldon, and plan to work locally. Skip it if you are aiming for administrative health roles expecting a strong wage, or if you need a four-year degree to hit your earnings goal.

On price, the tiers barely move by income, running under $4,600 whether you earn below $30k or up to $75k. There is no meaningful discount for lower-income families here, so budget the same roughly $4,000 a year regardless of where you fall.