RN to BSN Online: Complete Your Bachelor's on Your Schedule

You are already a registered nurse. Now earn the bachelor's that opens the door to leadership, specialty nursing, and higher pay, fully online and asynchronous, with clinical hours you complete in your own community.

  • 100% Online and Asynchronous
  • Built for Working RNs
  • Clinical Hours in Your Own Community
  • About 6 to 9 Hours a Week

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Why Choose NLU for Nursing?

100% Online
Truly asynchronous, no required login times

Complete coursework around your shifts, whether you work days, nights, or rotating schedules.

Clinical in Your Community
68 in-person hours plus 20 virtual

No travel to Chicago or Tampa, your community rotations happen where your career already lives.

Built on Your RN Knowledge
Advance what you already know

The curriculum builds on your existing nursing experience rather than retreading associate-level content.

$93,600
Median, registered nurses (BLS, May 2024)

The BSN opens charge roles, specialty certifications, and graduate study.

6 to 9 hrs/week
An honest, realistic workload

Stated upfront so you can plan the program around the career you already have.

Program at a Glance

What format?
100% Online
Asynchronous, study when it fits your shifts
What clinical?
88 Hours
68 in-person locally plus 20 virtual
What commitment?
6 to 9 hrs/wk
Designed to fit around your nursing career
What salary?
$93,600
Median, registered nurses (BLS, May 2024)

What You'll Learn

  • Enhance critical thinking and evidence-based clinical judgment
  • Perform whole-patient health assessment and early identification of issues
  • Make ethical and legal decisions in complex healthcare environments
  • Lead through delegation, quality improvement, and patient safety
  • Apply current nursing research to direct patient care
  • Build population health and community care competencies

Full Course List

Assessment
Whole-patient assessment and evidence-based plan-of-care development.
Clinical Judgment
Expanding the clinical reasoning you already use at the bedside.
Leadership
Delegation, quality and safety improvement, and change agency.
Ethics
Navigating ethical, legal, cultural, and social issues in modern healthcare.
Evidence-Based Practice
Applying current nursing research to direct patient care.
Population Health
Community and population health practice, completed locally.
Management
Systems thinking and organizational nursing leadership.
Capstone
Applied clinical hours completed in your home community.

Next start: September 21, 2026 — seats filling fast.

Admissions Requirements

  • Active registered nurse licensure with an associate degree or diploma in nursing
  • Ability to commit approximately 6 to 9 hours per week to coursework
  • A self-directed, motivated approach to online learning
  • Online application at nl.edu with no application fee
  • Note: the program is not available to RNs licensed in California

While observing, I noticed that nurses were truly the backbone of the care, and I wanted to positively impact my patients with the care I could provide.

Natalie Huante Nursing Student, Class of 2025
Built for Working RNs

The RN-BSN is 100% online and asynchronous, with no required live sessions, so you complete coursework at the pace that works around your shifts.

Clinical in Your Own Community

Complete 88 clinical hours, 68 in-person and 20 virtual, in your home community. No relocation and no travel to a campus required.

From Bedside to Leadership

A BSN builds the leadership, evidence-based practice, and health assessment skills that distinguish you for charge roles, specialty certifications, and graduate school.

Where Will Your Degree Take You?

$93,600
Median, registered nurses (BLS, May 2024)
Charge Nurse or Unit Supervisor
Critical Care Nurse
Cardiovascular Nurse
Case Manager
Public Health Nurse
Nurse Educator (With Further Credentials)

The BSN is rapidly becoming the entry-level credential for hospital employment and the prerequisite for nursing leadership. NLU’s RN-BSN prepares working nurses to close the education gap without pausing their careers, building the leadership, health assessment, and evidence-based practice skills that employers increasingly require for specialty units, charge positions, and certification pathways.

Registered nurses earn a median of $93,600, with employment projected to grow about 5 percent through 2034 and roughly 189,100 openings a year (BLS, May 2024). Completing the degree is an investment that pays in both career options and long-term earning potential.

How to Apply in 3 Simple Steps

  1. Request Information

    Submit the form above. An NLU nursing advisor will reach out within one business day to confirm your RN licensure and state eligibility.

  2. Connect With an Advisor

    Your advisor reviews your RN license and prior transcripts, confirms program eligibility, and helps you plan coursework around your work commitments.

  3. Apply and Start Classes

    Submit your application at nl.edu with no application fee. Next start: September 21, 2026.

Take the First Step

No commitment required. An NLU advisor will reach out within one business day to map your path to becoming a nurse.

Take the First Step
  • 100% Online and Asynchronous
  • Built for Working RNs
  • Clinical Hours in Your Own Community
  • About 6 to 9 Hours a Week

*Salary and openings: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook, Registered Nurses (SOC 29-1141), May 2024 (about 5% growth and 189,100 openings a year, 2024-2034).

**Program structure, online delivery, clinical hours, and state availability: National Louis University RN to B.S. in Nursing program page (nl.edu/school-of-nursing/programs/rn-to-bs-nursing).