Best Nursing Schools in Austin, Texas in 2024 (On-Campus & Online)

If you’re looking for a Texas nursing school, you’ve come to the right place. Students wishing to attend nursing schools in Austin Texas area can choose between the traditional Associate’s Degree (ADN) program (18 months to two-year completion) or the four-year bachelor’s degree (BSN) program or accelerated BSN program, which typically takes 18 months to complete. Students can enroll in great vocational nursing schools in Austin, Texas.

Nursing students should know that most health care employers in the Austin area are requiring nurses to have a BSN degree, so that may be a better option to best serve your career. Austin is a rapidly growing area and a great place to start a career. There are many high-quality healthcare systems in the area including the University of Texas system, Baylor Scott and White and St. David’s System, among others. Nurses can expect to earn an average salary of $63,000, which is great considering the area’s relatively low cost of living. Austin also has many surrounding rural areas that are in great need of nurses. Whether you’re looking for an RN to BSN Texas program, a BSN nursing program in TX, or another type of nursing program, you’ll be sure to find an option here.

The top nursing schools in Austin, Texas in 2024

1. Texas State University

Texas State University in San Marcos Texas is very close to Austin. The university features the St. David’s School of Nursing which offers a traditional BSN program that opened in 2010. The school is very competitive, admitting only 100 nursing students once per year each fall. The nursing school is located on the Round Rock campus which is much closer to Austin; clinicals are done within the affiliated St. David’s hospital system which has locations in Austin and many surrounding satellite towns like Round Rock, Georgetown and others. Nursing students who need prerequisite courses must complete those at the main Texas State San Marcos campus or bring in transfer credits from another school.

The nationally accredited BSN program also has an RN to BSN accelerated program that requires a minimum of 30 semester hours, easily completed in two semesters. The school also offers a Family Nurse Practitioner Master of Science in Nursing. All programs are designed to help address the critical shortage of primary care providers in Texas. The program prepares students to be part of interprofessional healthcare teams to meet the complex needs of Texas’ diverse patient populations.

As one of the accelerated nursing schools in Austin, Texas, students can work on coursework either full-time or part-time. The school allows students to take up to 6 semesters to complete the ABSN.

• Tuition per credit hour: $812
• NCLEX First-time Pass Rate: 100%
• Program Length: Two to six semesters
• Accreditation: Nationally accredited

2. Texas Lutheran University

TLU is located in nearby Seguin, Texas, but the BSN is offered in New Braunfels at the nursing campus which is much closer to Austin. Students are strongly encouraged to attend full time and receive classroom instruction, hands-on laboratory training, and clinicals in local Austin hospitals. Clinical experience occurs across a range of care settings and populations, including medical-surgical acute care, geriatrics, surgery, behavioral health, pediatrics, OB-GYN, emergency room nursing, intensive care units (ICU), intermediate care (IMC) and community health settings. The program features 945 hours of rigorous academic content that includes team leadership skill development, research opportunities and training to teach nurses to be health educators and patient advocates. The program has a 95% hire rate within six months of graduation.

• Tuition per credit hour: $875
• NCLEX First-time Pass Rate: 95%
• Program Length: Four semesters (16 months)
• Accreditation: Not advertised

3. Concordia University

This program is a fast-track full-time 16-month accelerated BSN (ABSN) that combines online coursework with hands-on labs and in-hospital experience. Clinical rotations are done at Austin’s #1 healthcare employer. Concordia is one of the best accredited nursing schools in Austin, Texas. It offers an MSN and both degrees are CCNE-accredited. Concordia is a private nonprofit university that is very trusted by the local healthcare community to produce quality nurses for the growing Austin area healthcare needs.

• Tuition per credit hour: $896
• NCLEX First-time Pass Rate: 97.4%
• Program Length: Four semesters (16 months)
• Accreditation: CCNE

4. University of Mary Hardin Baylor

University of Mary Hardin Baylor is in Belton, Texas right outside of the Austin city metroplex. This degree is a traditional BSN Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree offered by the Scott & White School of Nursing. Baylor Scott & White is a large healthcare system in the Austin area and it employs the UMHB nursing graduates as healthcare practitioners. The program has a strong liberal arts foundation, but the school also offers an online, accelerated RN-to-BSN program nurses who already possess an associate degree in nursing. UMHB also has a master’s degree program in nursing, Doctor of Nursing Practice program, and APRN certificate program. All are CCNE-accredited.

• Tuition per credit hour: $927
• NCLEX First-time Pass Rate: 95.9%
• Program Length: Two semesters to four years
• Accreditation: CCNE

5. University of Texas at Austin

The CCNE-accredited UT Austin nursing school offers a traditional on-campus BSN in nursing. The school is ranked nationally #15 among Schools of Nursing receiving funding from the National Institutes of Health, making it one of the best nursing schools in Austin, Texas. The BSN program prepares students with the knowledge, techniques, and procedures for promoting health, providing care for sick, disabled, infirmed, or other individuals or groups. It includes instruction in the administration of medication and treatments, assisting a physician during treatments and examinations, referring patients to physicians and other health care specialists, and planning education for health maintenance.

The school offers an accelerated MSN and doctoral nursing programs. They are affiliated with hospitals in the very large UT Health system, so the school can offer many varied clinical rotations and research opportunities.

• Tuition per credit hour: $1,720
• NCLEX First-time Pass Rate: 94.8%
• Program Length: Four years
• Accreditation: CCNE

6. South University Austin

South University is a small private university founded in 1899 in Round Rock, Texas which is very near to the Austin area. The school has a diverse student population with a focus on professional fulfillment. Nursing is a career that is incredibly in demand in Texas, and South University prides itself on graduating qualified, skilled nurses who have earned a BSN with the skill sets local healthcare employers are looking for. They offer an RN to Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree completion program that can be done full-time or part-time, on-campus or online. They work with students to ensure they earn their degrees in the most efficient way.

• Tuition per credit hour: $667
• NCLEX First-time Pass Rate: 89.5%
• Program Length: Minimum of two semesters
• Accreditation: CCNE

7. Schreiner University

Schreiner University is a private school located in Kerrville, Texas, which is between Austin and San Antonio. The nursing program is committed to advancing the nursing profession and has partnered with local hospitals to offer premiere clinical experiences for our students. Coursework is holistic to prepare health professionals who are nurse leaders and lifelong learners. The program focuses on the prevention of illness and injury, alleviation of suffering through the diagnosis and treatment of human response, and advocacy in the care of individuals, families, communities, and populations. All nursing faculty are clinically active advanced nurse practitioners who provide both a strong educational and clinical foundation for our students.

Schreiner is known for keeping the tuition affordable and within reach of students from all economic backgrounds. As such, 99% of freshmen get financial aid packages with an average award of $28,000.

• Tuition per credit hour: $1,230
• NCLEX First-time Pass Rate: 100%
• Program Length: Minimum of four semesters
• Accreditation: CCNE

8. St. Edwards University

St. Edward’s University is a private Catholic university in Austin. In 2017, the school signed an articulation agreement with the Baylor University Louise Herrington School of Nursing (LHSON) in Waco, Texas, close to Dallas and Fort Worth. The new partnership allows Austin-based St. Edward’s University students interested in pursuing a nursing career to enter an accelerated BSN program called FastBacc at LHSON in Waco. Under this agreement, students who complete any bachelor’s degree at St. Edward’s University, including all prerequisite courses required by Baylor, will receive preferential admissions consideration over other non-Baylor students applying to the LHSON program.

Bonus Nursing School with a 100% Online Nursing Program

Western Governors University (WGU)

If you already graduated from one of the registered nurse schools in Austin, Texas, then WGU’s program might be perfect for you. WGU’s online program is designed for registered nurses who want to earn a BSN degree from this CCNE-accredited program. The curriculum is designed for nurses to expand skills beyond the clinical aspects of nursing, so it offers evidence-based practice, patient safety, technology integration, and healthcare systems and policies education.

The RN-BSN program builds on an RN’s previous training and experience by focusing on research community healthcare, therapeutics, and healthcare policy. The curriculum also provides a detailed background of current trends in healthcare. Tuition is a flat rate per term, and most students can finish within 18 months. Typically, the average student brings in 80 undergraduate transfer credit hours. The program is recognized in the state of  Texas.

• Tuition per credit hour: $3,225
• NCLEX First-time Pass Rate: 89.8%
• Program Length: Minimum 18 months
• Accreditation: CCNE

Our Methodology

We ranked these nursing programs by using four important criteria: tuition cost, NCLEX first-time pass rate, length of program and accreditation. We absolutely take care to do our best to rank all schools fairly and honestly, and we absolutely do not accept payments from universities to move up in the ranking. We do accept sponsorships on our pages, but that category is separate and distinct from these rankings and clearly designated SPONSORED.

Disclaimer: We have used the latest available NCLEX pass rates from the 2018 Texas Board of Nursing reports and the latest tuition costs for the 2019-2020 academic year per the university advertised costs. It is ultimately the student’s responsibility to know current tuition and other information. Please contact us if you would like us to consider your college or university in our rankings.