RN to BSN Programs

Arkansas

Best RN to BSN Programs in Arkansas, Ranked (2026)

Written and edited by , Editor B.A. Psychology, University of Washington Seattle · B.S. Computer Science, Oregon State University

Last updated

Arkansas's Public Programs Cost Almost the Same, so the Graduation Rate Decides the Order

4 of the 5 ranked programs in Arkansas are public, and they are priced within $1,125 a year of each other — $5,685 at University of Arkansas at Monticello up to $6,810 at University of Arkansas at Little Rock. That is about $94 a month between the cheapest and the dearest public option in the state. Tuition is 55% of the score, but when 4 programs sit that close together the cost points come out nearly identical and the graduation rate does the separating.

You can watch it happen down the list. University of Arkansas at Monticello heads the ranking on 49%, the strongest of the 4 publics. Below it the order is graduation rate, not price: University of Arkansas at Little Rock at 42% is the most expensive public in the state and still places second, ahead of Henderson State University, which charges $402 less a year but comes in 5 points lower on graduation. All 4 publics sit under 50%.

Then the fork. Harding University is the only ranked program in Arkansas with a graduation rate above half, at 69%, and it charges $25,290 — 4 times the median of $6,408 and $19,605 a year more than University of Arkansas at Monticello. On a model that weights cost at 55%, that puts it 5th at 58.6 against 70.2 at the top, with the whole field inside 11.6 points. Last place in a band that tight is not a verdict on the program. It means the extra $19,605 a year has to be paid for by something the two factors we score do not capture.

One caution about 69%, and about 37% too. IPEDS measures graduation for first-time, full-time, degree-seeking undergraduates. As a licensed nurse taking upper-level credits around your shifts, you are none of those three. The figure describes how a campus performs with students starting from scratch — a signal about advising, funding and support — not a forecast of whether you personally finish.

Something else the order does not show: University of Arkansas at Little Rock confers 137 nursing bachelor's degrees a year, more than the other 4 ranked programs combined (132), and it sits 2nd rather than first. Volume is worth asking about on its own. A program moving that many degrees a year has evaluated a great many ADN transcripts, and that tends to show up in how quickly an admissions office can tell you exactly what transfers.

Set against pay: the median Arkansas RN earns $78,940, which is $18,610 below the national median of $97,550 and 47th of 51 states. The 90th percentile here is $103,660, above that national median — the top of the Arkansas range clears the middle of the country's. Those upper-percentile roles are what a BSN is a gate to. It is not a raise in the job you already hold.

All 5 Arkansas RN to BSN Programs, Ranked

Scored on in-state tuition (55%) and institutional graduation rate (45%). How we rank.

  1. 1st in Arkansas

    University of Arkansas at Monticello

    Monticello, AR · Public $5,685 annual in-state tuition 49% institutional graduation rate 16 degrees a year 70.2 score
    Arkansas at Monticello's RN-to-BSN major combines 24 nursing credits with six upper-level elective credits, including a dedicated course in healthy aging.

    Arkansas at Monticello's RN-to-BSN major contains 24 nursing credits and six upper-level elective credits. It forms a 30-credit major within a 120-credit degree, rather than a separate 30-credit bachelor's qualification. Required courses must be completed with grades of C or better.

    A dedicated healthy-aging course gives gerontology a clear place in the sequence. Other major requirements cover RN role transition, assessment, health promotion, population health, research and leadership. The upper-level electives sit alongside this defined nursing core. Students comparing completion requirements can distinguish that elective flexibility from the nursing subjects every student must complete.

    • 30-credit major including electives
    • 24 nursing credits
    • Six upper-level elective credits
    • Dedicated healthy-aging course
    • 120 total degree credits
    Nursing accreditation on file: CNEA. DAPIP, . Learn more about University of Arkansas at Monticello's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
  2. 2nd in Arkansas

    University of Arkansas at Little Rock

    Little Rock, AR · Public Fully online $6,810 annual in-state tuition 42% institutional graduation rate 137 degrees a year 65.6 score
    Registered nurses can start the program while still in the final semester of an associate degree, and a valid RN license waives the full 33-credit AAS nursing block outright.

    UA Little Rock's RN to BSN is a 120-credit-hour Bachelor of Science in Nursing delivered entirely online through the College of Business, Health, and Human Services. It admits licensed registered nurses along with RN graduates of associate or diploma programs, and students may begin while completing the last semester of an AAS in Nursing. The 120 hours break into 35 credits of core curriculum, a 33-credit block of AAS nursing courses that is waived for applicants holding a valid RN license, and 34 credits of upper-level nursing coursework, plus statistics, a workplace or technical writing course, an eight-credit upper-level elective, and four credits of additional science. Upper-level courses cover health assessment, wellness promotion, health care economics, research and evidence-based practice, ethics and legalities, community health, and leadership and management.

    Nursing courses run in five-week terms, three each in fall and spring and two in summer, and the school accepts students for all three terms. Students who have already satisfied the additional BSN requirements can finish in two semesters; those with requirements outstanding should expect three to four. An active and unencumbered RN license is required to continue into the second semester. Progression requires a minimum grade of C in every upper-level nursing and general education course and a cumulative UA Little Rock GPA of at least 2.00, and two Fs in required BSN nursing courses ends enrollment. The whole program must be completed within three years of the date of initial enrollment in the Professional Nursing Role course. Incoming students meet with an advisor to sequence classes and identify missing requirements, and transfer transcripts are reviewed and articulated before registration.

    • 120 credit hours
    • Entirely online
    • 33 AAS nursing credits waived with valid RN license
    • Five-week course terms
    • Two to four semesters to finish
    Nursing accreditation on file: ACEN. DAPIP, . Learn more about University of Arkansas at Little Rock's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
  3. 3rd in Arkansas

    University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff

    Pine Bluff, AR · Public Online option $6,330 annual in-state tuition 40% institutional graduation rate 18 degrees a year 65.1 score
    UAPB awards 30 of the degree's 122 hours through the Arkansas Nursing Education Progression Model, a statewide articulation route under which an RN needs no competency testing if at least 1,000 hours of work in the past 24 months is documented.

    The Department of Nursing at the University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff runs a single BSN track, and it is built for registered nurses who already hold an associate degree or a diploma. The degree totals 122 hours: 61 in liberal arts and sciences, 31 in nursing coursework taken at UAPB, and 30 awarded through the Arkansas Nursing Education Progression Model for prior nursing education. Nursing courses are web-based or hybrid, which the catalog ties directly to scheduling around RNs employed full time in the profession. The nursing block runs from Nursing Transition and Health Promotion and Assessment for RN Nursing Practice through informatics, research methodology and healthcare economics, and ends in three Professional Practice courses covering community, leadership and management, and ethics and role integration. Courses must be taken in sequence, failure to do so denies progression, and every course in the plan has to be passed with a C or better. The program is approved by the Arkansas Department of Higher Education.

    Admission runs on one cycle a year: the application goes to the Department of Nursing no later than March 15 for the class beginning the following summer term. Applicants need a current unencumbered RN license, or a temporary permit plus evidence of a scheduled NCLEX-RN date, which is admitted as conditional and will not be allowed to progress if the first NCLEX-RN attempt is unsuccessful. A compact-state license carrying practice privilege in Arkansas is also accepted. The cumulative GPA requirement is 2.5 on a 4.0 scale, calculated from prerequisites and previous nursing courses only and excluding electives, with a C or better in each. Once admitted, students must document TB testing, the hepatitis series, varicella, tetanus within ten years, MMR, current CPR certification, a criminal background check through CastleBranch and a urine drug screen, all at their own expense. UAPB does not require COVID-19 vaccination, though the catalog notes that partner clinical facilities set their own policies and a student who declines may be unable to complete program requirements.

    • 122 total credit hours
    • 31 nursing credits taken at UAPB
    • 30 hours awarded for prior nursing education
    • Unencumbered RN license required
    • 2.5 minimum cumulative GPA
    Learn more about University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
  4. 4th in Arkansas

    Henderson State University

    Arkadelphia, AR · Public Fully online $6,408 annual in-state tuition 37% institutional graduation rate 52 degrees a year 63.6 score
    Students accepted into the online track are awarded up to 41 nursing credit hours for their prior nursing coursework, leaving 33 hours of nursing core courses that can be finished in as few as three semesters.

    Henderson State University offers its RN to BSN as an online completion track for nurses who already hold a current RN license. All courses are delivered online, and the university states the degree can be completed in as few as three semesters. The credit structure is spelled out on the program page: accepted students are awarded up to 41 nursing credit hours for prior nursing courses, must already have completed 46 hours of prerequisite and general education credit per the Henderson State degree plan, and then complete 33 hours of nursing core courses. A minimum of 120 credit hours is required for graduation. The baccalaureate degree program in nursing at Henderson State is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.

    Admission requires an unencumbered Registered Nurse license and a cumulative GPA of 2.0 or above. Applicants must have graduated from an associate degree or diploma program that was NLNAC or ACEN accredited, or Arkansas State Board approved at the time of graduation, and must have completed the non-nursing courses listed on the degree plan, with exceptions at the discretion of the Track Director. All admissions are conditional pending a background check and drug screen; conditionally accepted students complete the CastleBranch background check, drug screen and compliance tracker, which the Department of Nursing uses to manage school and clinical requirements such as TB skin tests, the Hepatitis B series and CPR certification.

    • 100% online coursework
    • As few as three semesters
    • Up to 41 credits awarded for prior nursing courses
    • 33 hours of nursing core; 120 total for graduation
    • Current RN license and 2.0 GPA required
    Nursing accreditation on file: CCNE. DAPIP, . Learn more about Henderson State University's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
  5. 5th in Arkansas

    Harding University

    Searcy, AR · Private nonprofit $25,290 annual in-state tuition 69% institutional graduation rate 46 degrees a year 58.6 score Nursing accreditation on file: CCNE. DAPIP, .

$5,685 to $25,290, with Nothing in Between

Arkansas has no mid-priced option. 4 programs sit in a band from $5,685 to $6,810, and then the next price is $25,290. There is nothing at twelve or fifteen thousand to compromise on, which makes the decision cleaner than it looks: pick the public program whose transfer policy and schedule suit you, or decide that Harding University offers something worth $19,605 a year.

Every figure above is annual published tuition from IPEDS, not the cost of finishing the track. RN-to-BSN completion is typically around 30 upper-level credits, so your real bill depends on which of your existing credits count and how many terms you take. With only 5 programs in the state, getting a written total-to-degree number from all of them is an afternoon's work rather than a project — and per-credit pricing is how this field keeps that number out of view.

The out-of-state column behaves differently from the in-state one. Among the 4 publics it runs from $8,784 at Henderson State University — only $2,376 above what an Arkansas resident pays — to $19,620 at University of Arkansas at Little Rock. If you are licensed elsewhere and looking at these programs online, that column is the one to compare, and check state authorisation before you get attached to a number.

Arkansas RNs Earn $78,940 — 47th of 51 States

BLS reports a median of $78,940 for Arkansas's 29,400 registered nurses, or $37.95 an hour, with the distribution running from $60,780 at the 10th percentile to $103,660 at the 90th. That median is $18,610 below the national figure of $97,550.

The more useful number in that spread is the top of it. At $103,660, the 90th percentile of Arkansas RN pay sits above the national median for all RNs. The state's ceiling is not low; its middle is. That is the practical case for the degree here — not that finishing a BSN raises what you are paid on your current unit, but that charge and management tracks, case management and public health roles are where the upper half of that range lives, and they are the roles that ask for the credential.

One caveat that applies to every salary figure on this site: BLS reports all registered nurses as a single occupation and does not break pay out by degree. There is no federal number for what an Arkansas BSN earns against what an Arkansas ADN earns. Anyone quoting one has made it up.

Source: BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025 release.

Questions Arkansas Nurses Ask

What is the cheapest RN to BSN in Arkansas?
University of Arkansas at Monticello at $5,685 a year. But the honest answer is that price is barely a decision here: all 4 public programs fall between $5,685 and $6,810, a spread of $1,125 a year, or about $94 a month. Two things move your actual bill far more than that gap does — how many of your ADN and general education credits each school accepts, and how many terms you spread the remaining upper-level credits across. Ask for a total-to-degree figure and a transcript evaluation before you let $1,125 decide anything.
Harding University costs 4 times what the public programs charge. Is it worth it?
That is the only real fork in Arkansas, so it deserves a straight answer. Harding University has the highest graduation rate of any ranked program in the state at 69% — the only one above half — and it charges $25,290 against $5,685 at University of Arkansas at Monticello, a difference of $19,605 a year. It ranks 5th here because our model weights cost at 55%. Before paying the premium, note what that graduation rate measures: IPEDS tracks first-time, full-time, degree-seeking undergraduates, and as a working licensed nurse you are none of those three. It describes how the campus performs with students starting from scratch. Worth asking instead: how many upper-level credits does it actually require, are class sessions live or asynchronous, and does your employer's tuition benefit cap sit closer to $5,685 or to $25,290?
I am licensed in another state. Can I use an Arkansas program?
Possibly, and if so the out-of-state column is the one that matters — it varies far more than the in-state column does. Henderson State University charges $8,784 out of state, only $2,376 above its in-state rate, while University of Arkansas at Little Rock charges $19,620. Two things to confirm before you apply: whether the program is authorised to enroll students in your state, since an online program is not automatically available everywhere, and whether any required practicum or precepted hours can be completed where you work rather than in Arkansas.
Does Arkansas require a BSN to keep working as an RN?
No. Arkansas licenses registered nurses through the NCLEX-RN, which you can sit with an associate degree, and no Arkansas law requires you to upgrade. New York is the only state with a BSN requirement, and it applies only to nurses licensed after its 2017 law took effect, giving them ten years. The 80% figure many nurses half-remember was a 2010 Institute of Medicine recommendation, not legislation, and it never carried force of law anywhere. The BSN buys access — Magnet employers, charge and management tracks, case management, public health, and the MSN pathway — not permission to keep practicing.

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