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

All 12 Ranked California RN to BSN Completion Programs

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

1. 1st in California

   California State University-Fullerton

   Fullerton, CA · Public Hybrid $6,084 annual in-state tuition 70% institutional graduation rate 290 degrees a year 79.9 score

   Cal State Fullerton partners with the ADN programs at Cypress College, Riverside City College, and Santa Ana College through a Concurrent Enrollment Program, so associate degree nursing students can work toward the ADN and the BSN at the same time.

   Cal State Fullerton's RN-BSN pathway is an upper-division completion program for registered nurses who already hold an associate degree in nursing. The nursing coursework totals 24 semester units, covering professional nursing, nursing research and evidence-based practice, health assessment with a lab, pathophysiology, population health nursing with a lab, leadership and management, and the art and science of nursing. Students without a previous bachelor's degree also complete at least 6 units of upper-division general education at CSUF. The full-time plan runs two semesters at 12 units each; the part-time plan spreads the same courses over four semesters, and the school's FAQ puts part-time completion at three to five semesters, four on average. Up to 20 units may be awarded for prior learning based on passing the NCLEX, decided individually before graduation.

   Since Fall 2025 the campus-based format has been discontinued and the pathway runs hybrid only. Lecture courses are offered asynchronously online, and lab sections meet in the afternoon, evening, or on weekends. Two components are in person: the NURS 340L health assessment lab, held on the Fullerton campus, and the NURS 402L population health clinical, which takes place outside the hospital setting at public or community health agencies in Orange, Los Angeles, Riverside, or San Bernardino counties. The School of Nursing's Clinical Placement staff assign the site, and the school notes both labs sit within roughly 50 miles of campus. Distance students pay added fees of $50 per lecture unit and $100 per lab unit. Admission requires an ADN or equivalent from a regionally accredited institution, a cumulative GPA of 2.75, and eight prerequisite courses passed with a C or better. An RN license is not required to apply or to begin, but students on the two-semester full-time plan must obtain an unencumbered California RN license within their first semester.

   • 24 nursing units
   • Hybrid: asynchronous online lectures
   • Two required in-person labs
   • As few as 2 semesters full-time
   • 2.75 minimum GPA

   Nursing accreditation on file: CCNE. DAPIP, 2026-09-10. Learn more about California State University-Fullerton's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
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2. 2nd in California

   California State University-Long Beach

   Long Beach, CA · Public Fully online $6,084 annual in-state tuition 69% institutional graduation rate 174 degrees a year 79.4 score

   All of the program's clinical work sits in a single 90-hour population health course at a site the student picks and the School of Nursing approves, and ADN students at Long Beach City College can start CSULB nursing courses before they finish their associate degree through a concurrent enrollment agreement.

   California State University, Long Beach runs its RN to BSN through the university's College of Professional and Continuing Education as a fully online, asynchronous degree for nurses who already hold an ADN and a California RN license. Courses run in eight-week sessions, two each in fall and spring and one in summer, and the program takes 12 to 18 months: part-time in roughly 18 months, or full-time within one year. The nursing core is 26 units across eight NRSG courses at $600 per unit, or $15,600 for the nursing coursework. The BSN itself requires 120 units total with up to 70 eligible for transfer, so a student who arrives short on general education pays for those additional classes on top of that figure. Someone carrying six units per term, meaning one course per eight-week session, should plan on at least 18 hours of work a week.

   Clinical work is concentrated in one course rather than spread across the curriculum. NRSG 406, Population Health, is a five-unit clinical course carrying 90 clinical hours, taken toward the end of the sequence; students select their own site subject to School of Nursing approval and complete the hours in person near home, scheduled around that site's availability. Admission requires California residency, graduation from a regionally and nationally accredited ADN program, an active unrestricted California RN license or eligibility for one by the time classes begin, a 2.75 GPA in all required ADN coursework with no grade below a C, and 70 transferable units including the "Magic Four" of critical thinking, oral communication, written communication, and math, plus anatomy, physiology, microbiology, chemistry with lab, and statistics. Students must also clear a criminal background check and drug screen. The program is not open to F-1 international students. Nurses studying at Long Beach City College can get a head start: a concurrent enrollment agreement lets them take one CSULB nursing course per semester while still enrolled in the ADN program, leaving one to two semesters of BSN work after the associate degree is finished.

   • 90 clinical hours
   • 100% online, asynchronous
   • 26 nursing units
   • 12-18 months
   • California RN license required

   Nursing accreditation on file: CCNE. DAPIP, 2026-09-10. Learn more about California State University-Long Beach's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
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3. 3rd in California

   California State University-Monterey Bay

   Seaside, CA · Public Hybrid $6,084 annual in-state tuition 59% institutional graduation rate 52 degrees a year 74.6 score

   CSUMB will admit applicants who are not yet licensed, requiring only that they hold a valid California RN license or earn one before their last semester in the program.

   CSUMB's RN to BSN Pathway is a degree-completion track for nurses who already hold a California RN license or will earn one before they finish. Admission requires an overall GPA of at least 2.75, a prerequisite GPA of at least 2.75, and a nursing program GPA of at least 3.0. The prerequisite list covers human anatomy with lab, human physiology with lab, microbiology with lab, chemistry with or without lab, statistics, a critical thinking course, English 1A or its equivalent, and oral communication. The page states that these same requirements apply to applicants entering through either the RN to BSN or the ADN to BSN pathway.

   Coursework runs through the College of Extended Education, so students register for courses under that college rather than the main university, with financial help available through the university. Tuition is $525 per unit, a rate the page marks as effective fall 2022. Additional charges include a $70 application fee, a $100 enrollment confirmation fee that is credited back toward tuition, a $39 Extended Education student services fee each semester, and a $40 graduation application fee. The page describes a separately priced international student track at $6,000 per semester for 12 units: that track is full time, begins in the fall, runs three semesters, blends online and face-to-face instruction, requires an Associate Degree in Nursing, and carries no TOEFL requirement.

   • Valid California RN license required
   • $525 per unit tuition
   • Overall GPA of 2.75 or higher
   • Nursing program GPA of 3.0
   • Offered through Extended Education

   Nursing accreditation on file: CCNE. DAPIP, 2026-09-10. Learn more about California State University-Monterey Bay's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
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4. 4th in California

   California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt

   Arcata, CA · Public $6,084 annual in-state tuition 49% institutional graduation rate 16 degrees a year 69.8 score

   The 44-unit major is approved by the California Board of Registered Nursing for Public Health Nurse certification, and nurses entering it can be awarded up to 17 units of credit for prior learning demonstrated by the NCLEX-RN.

   Cal Poly Humboldt's RN to BSN concentration is a post-licensure completion track for nurses who already hold an associate degree. To be admitted, candidates must be a graduate of a regionally accredited associate degree in nursing program, or be enrolled in one participating in the university's North Coast Concurrent Enrollment program, and must hold an active, unrestricted California Registered Nurse license with no disciplinary action pending or imposed before enrolling in NRSG 470 and NRSG 471. Admission also requires a minimum cumulative GPA of 2.75 from all transfer institutions and eight CSU systemwide nursing prerequisites completed with a grade of C or better: oral communication, written communication, critical thinking, chemistry, human anatomy with lab, human physiology with lab, microbiology with lab, and statistics. Continued enrollment in the two community health courses depends on background check findings, and students must report any change in licensure status to the program director in writing.

   The major requires 44 units inside a 120-unit bachelor's degree, and the catalog's Major Academic Plan describes a recommended pathway to completion in two years. Twenty-seven of those units come from required courses, among them pathophysiology across the lifespan, health assessment, informatics and health literacy, leadership and management dynamics, evidence-based practice and research, and a three-unit Community/Public Health Nursing Practicum. Students may be awarded up to 10 lower division and 7 upper division units by using the NCLEX-RN to demonstrate prior learning of pre-licensure nursing content, and a minimum grade of C is required in every major course. Coursework in the major also satisfies the upper division general education requirement in mathematics or sciences. The baccalaureate program is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and is approved for the Public Health Nurse certification by the California Board of Registered Nursing.

   • 44-unit nursing major
   • California RN license required
   • 2.75 minimum transfer GPA
   • Up to 17 units for NCLEX-RN prior learning
   • Approved for California PHN certification

   Nursing accreditation on file: CCNE. DAPIP, 2026-09-10. Learn more about California State Polytechnic University-Humboldt's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
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5. 5th in California

   California State University-East Bay

   Hayward, CA · Public Online $6,084 annual in-state tuition 48% institutional graduation rate 140 degrees a year 69.3 score

   Cal State East Bay offers admission to every qualified applicant when seats allow, turning to a randomized waitlist only if clinical site availability limits the class.

   Cal State East Bay's Post-Licensure (RN-BSN) Program enrolls nurses who already hold a California RN license, or will hold one before the program begins, and who do not yet have a bachelor's degree in nursing. Second bachelor's candidates may apply. Students can take it as a one-year intensive or spread it across two years part-time. Coursework is online except for a single field experience course, Community Health Practice, which requires in-person attendance. The department has partnerships with seven Bay Area associate degree programs (Chabot, College of San Mateo, Contra Costa, De Anza, Los Medanos, Merritt and Ohlone), and graduates of other ADN programs are welcome to apply on the same terms.

   Applicants need an earned ADN or a California RN license before starting, the eight systemwide nursing admission prerequisites, and at least 60 transferable units. The GPA floor is 3.00, calculated either across all eight prerequisites and separately across the four science prerequisites, or as the cumulative GPA from the nursing program. Every prerequisite must carry a C or better; a C- is not accepted. The degree totals 120 semester units, including 9 units of CSU upper-division general education and a minimum of 30 units in residence at Cal State East Bay, and passing the NCLEX awards 20 upper-division units toward that total. The program admits for both fall and spring, and applying takes two separate submissions, Cal State Apply and NursingCAS.

   • California RN license by program entry
   • One year intensive or two years part-time
   • Online except one in-person course
   • 3.00 minimum GPA
   • 120 semester units to graduate

   Nursing accreditation on file: CCNE. DAPIP, 2026-09-10. Learn more about California State University-East Bay's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
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6. 6th in California

   California State University-Dominguez Hills

   Carson, CA · Public Online $6,084 annual in-state tuition 43% institutional graduation rate 165 degrees a year 66.9 score

   CSU Dominguez Hills combines asynchronous online classes with a two-day Zoom skills seminar and 90 hours at a public or community health facility.

   CSU Dominguez Hills is not cohort-based: RN-to-BSN students choose their course load, with enrollment required for at least two semesters. Academic classes are asynchronous online, but the program also includes a two-day Zoom skills seminar and 90 clinical hours in BSN 423 at a public or community-health facility.

   The program currently accepts California residents. ADN graduates awaiting their first NCLEX attempt can start coursework, but need an unrestricted California RN license before clinical courses. For scheduling, there are three different commitments to distinguish: asynchronous classwork, the scheduled Zoom seminar and the facility-based clinical experience. The online classroom format does not make those latter activities asynchronous.

   • Asynchronous online classes
   • Two-day Zoom skills seminar
   • 90 community/public-health clinical hours
   • Non-cohort scheduling
   • Currently limited to California residents

   Nursing accreditation on file: CCNE. DAPIP, 2026-09-10. Learn more about California State University-Dominguez Hills's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
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7. 7th in California

   Ashford University

   San Diego, CA · Private for-profit $11,040 annual in-state tuition 11% institutional graduation rate 32 degrees a year 46 score

   UAGC's RN-to-BSN culminates in a two-course practice-improvement capstone, moving from a quality-improvement proposal to an implementation and evaluation plan.

   The program now presented by the University of Arizona Global Campus requires 120 total degree credits, including at least 30 earned through UAGC. Students must maintain a 2.5 GPA in UAGC major coursework. After previous coursework is reviewed, eligible students may request up to 20 nontraditional elective credits for the NCLEX-RN through prior-learning assessment.

   A two-course practice-improvement capstone starts with a quality-improvement proposal and moves to an implementation and evaluation plan. Community-health project work is also part of the program.

   • Two-course quality-improvement capstone
   • 120 total degree credits
   • 30-credit UAGC residency requirement
   • 2.5 GPA required in major coursework
   • NCLEX-RN prior-learning credit review

   Nursing accreditation on file: CCNE. DAPIP, 2026-09-10. Learn more about Ashford University's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
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8. 8th in California

   Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science

   Los Angeles, CA · Private nonprofit On campus $23,000 annual in-state tuition 30% institutional graduation rate 39 degrees a year 42.2 score

   Charles R. Drew offers an on-campus RN-to-BSN and a concurrent pathway that lets eligible ADN students begin bachelor's coursework as early as their first semester.

   Charles R. Drew offers an on-campus RN-to-BSN for registered nurses with an associate nursing degree or diploma. It also has a concurrent pathway that lets eligible ADN students begin bachelor's coursework as early as the first semester of their associate program.

   Concurrent students must maintain good standing at both institutions and document ADN enrollment each semester. An unrestricted RN license is required before the BSN can be awarded. That route allows bachelor's study to begin before licensure without removing the license requirement for graduation. Its on-campus format is also a meaningful distinction for nurses comparing this program with remote completion options.

   • On-campus format
   • Associate-degree or diploma entry
   • Concurrent ADN pathway
   • Potential first-semester ADN start
   • Unrestricted RN license required to graduate

   Nursing accreditation on file: CCNE. DAPIP, 2026-09-10. Learn more about Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
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9. 9th in California

   Pacific Union College

   Angwin, CA · Private nonprofit Online $36,150 annual in-state tuition 58% institutional graduation rate 55 degrees a year 41.4 score

   Pacific Union's RN-to-BSN uses asynchronous online theory courses in 11-week quarters, with an optional 90-hour local practicum for the public-health nursing pathway.

   Pacific Union teaches RN-to-BSN theory courses asynchronously in 11-week quarters, without mandatory login times. Cohorts begin in summer, fall, winter and spring. Students with all prerequisites complete can finish in three to five quarters, and remaining general education courses are available online.

   The program offers an optional 90-hour local practicum for its public-health nursing pathway. That optional experience should be distinguished from a clinical obligation for every RN-to-BSN student. The entry route is for nurses with an associate nursing degree. For someone pursuing the public-health option, both the local practicum and any separate credential requirements need to be considered alongside the academic schedule.

   • 11-week quarters
   • Asynchronous theory courses
   • No mandatory log-in times
   • Starts in all four quarters
   • Optional 90-hour public-health practicum

   Nursing accreditation on file: ACEN. DAPIP, 2026-09-10. Learn more about Pacific Union College's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
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10. 10th in California

    California Baptist University

    Riverside, CA · Private nonprofit Fully online $39,078 annual in-state tuition 62% institutional graduation rate 188 degrees a year 40.2 score

    California Baptist pairs fully online lectures with two clinical practicums at local agencies, arranged with a preceptor and an affiliation agreement.

    California Baptist's RN-to-BSN combines fully online lectures with two practicums at local agencies. A preceptor and clinical affiliation agreement are required for the practice experiences. The published pathway takes 14 to 16 months depending on transfer credits, with a new group entering each fall.

    Licensed RNs and eligible students in approved ADN programs may apply. Clinical work requires an active RN license in the state where the practicum takes place. The license, agency agreement and preceptor are therefore linked to the selected practice location rather than just the university's home state. Online lectures provide flexibility, but those local arrangements remain essential parts of the completion plan.

    • Fully online lectures
    • Two local clinical practicums
    • 14- to 16-month pathway
    • Fall admission
    • Licensed-RN and eligible ADN-student entry

    Nursing accreditation on file: CCNE. DAPIP, 2026-09-10. Learn more about California Baptist University's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
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11. 11th in California

    Azusa Pacific University

    Azusa, CA · Private nonprofit Online $43,758 annual in-state tuition 62% institutional graduation rate 614 degrees a year 35.1 score

    Azusa Pacific's 15-month online RN-to-BSN keeps students together in a cohort and includes a clinical practicum within a faith-integrated curriculum.

    Azusa Pacific's online RN-to-BSN follows a 15-month cohort model, keeping students together through a faith-integrated completion curriculum. The degree requires 120 total units, including eligible transfer work, and includes a clinical practicum.

    An RN license in good standing is required before clinical courses. Admission normally requires a 3.0 GPA in transferred coursework, with provisional admission possible when competency is demonstrated through other measures. The cohort calendar provides a defined progression, while transfer requirements and clinical eligibility still need to be satisfied.

    • 15-month cohort plan
    • Online coursework
    • Clinical practicum
    • 120 total units including transfers
    • Faith-integrated nursing curriculum

    Nursing accreditation on file: CCNE. DAPIP, 2026-09-10. Learn more about Azusa Pacific University's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
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12. 12th in California

    Simpson University

    Redding, CA · Private nonprofit Hybrid $38,098 annual in-state tuition 49% institutional graduation rate 47 degrees a year 35 score

    Simpson's hybrid RN-to-BSN covers 36 credits across three terms, combining scheduled and asynchronous learning with a practicum in the student's local community.

    Simpson's RN-to-BSN contains 36 credits across three terms and can be completed in as little as 12 months. New groups start in January and August. Its hybrid format combines synchronous and asynchronous learning, so some participation is scheduled rather than entirely on demand.

    A required practicum takes place in a clinical setting within the student's local community. The curriculum builds on prior nursing preparation through research, leadership and liberal arts study. For working nurses, the practical schedule includes both the synchronous learning commitments and the local practicum, alongside the portions of coursework completed asynchronously.

    • 36-credit completion sequence
    • Three terms
    • As few as 12 months
    • Synchronous and asynchronous learning
    • Local clinical practicum

    Nursing accreditation on file: CCNE. DAPIP, 2026-09-10. Learn more about Simpson University's RN to BSN (opens the school's own site)
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Questions About California Programs