Is Phillips Community College of the University of Arkansas Worth It?

The financial picture at Phillips Community College comes down to one program. Nursing graduates earn nearly triple what General Studies graduates make, and that gap decides whether your time here pays off. At a net price near $5,400 a year, the low cost keeps your risk down, but the median earnings figure a decade out sits below what many two-year graduates elsewhere pull in.

Nursing is the clear win. If you finish the associate nursing program, you land close to $60,000 a year, which more than justifies the cost and matches steady demand for nurses across the rural Arkansas Delta where Helena sits. That single program is the reason to enroll.

Liberal Arts and General Studies is the opposite story. At roughly $22,000 a year, that credential barely clears entry-level work, and it drags the school's overall median down. Use it as a transfer step toward a four-year degree, not as your final stop. If you stop there, the return is thin.

The main risk is completion. Just over half of you finish, so if you drop out you carry whatever you borrowed with no credential to show for it. The other risk is picking the wrong program: the earnings spread between nursing and general studies is wide enough that your major matters more than the school itself.

The net price barely moves across income levels, running between about $5,100 and $7,100 whether your family earns under $30,000 or over $75,000. Lower-income families see slightly better pricing, but nobody gets a dramatic discount here. This school fits you if you commit to nursing or a defined transfer plan and want to keep costs low. Look elsewhere if you want a general degree with no plan to continue.