Program Overview
Oregon’s Only Academic Health Center. Three Campuses. Lowest ABSN Tuition in the State.
OHSU doesn’t just claim the lowest ABSN tuition in Oregon — it locks it in. The Tuition Promise guarantees that the per-credit rate you pay on day one is the rate you pay on your last day, provided you remain in good academic standing.
Ranked #1 for BSN programs in Oregon and #22 nationally, OHSU pairs that pricing structure with the clinical and research infrastructure of an academic health center.
This includes a nationally recognized simulation centers accredited by the American College of Surgeons, faculty who are active researchers and clinical leaders, and a clinical placement system where OHSU arranges every rotation.
Three host campuses (Portland, Bend, Ashland) and multiple annual start dates give career changers geographic and scheduling flexibility that single-campus programs can’t offer.
Many OHSU nursing graduates find employment before finishing the program.
ABSN Admission Summary
Admission is competitive and holistic — GPA alone doesn’t determine outcomes. Leadership experience, community involvement, healthcare experience, and essay responses are all evaluated alongside academic metrics. Oregon residents receive slight additional consideration in the competitive review process.
Academic requirements:
- Completed bachelor’s degree in any non-nursing field — must be finished before the program begins; students may still be completing their degree at the time of application
- Minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA across all institutions attended
- Minimum 3.0 prerequisite GPA
- B- or higher in every individual prerequisite course — if a course was taken more than once, the most recent grade is used
Six required prerequisite courses (B- or higher, all must be complete before program start):
- Human Anatomy & Physiology with lab (12 credits — typically a 2-part semester sequence or 3-part quarter sequence) — within 7 years of intended start
- Nutrition (3 cr.) — within 7 years
- Microbiology with lab (4 cr.) — within 7 years
- Introduction to Genetics (3 cr.) — within 7 years
- Statistics (3 cr.) — within 7 years
- Human Development (3 cr.) — no 7-year expiration; may be older
All prerequisites may be completed at any accredited college or university — within a prior bachelor’s degree or separately. OHSU provides Oregon and Washington course equivalency guides to help applicants verify course acceptability before applying.
Holistic application factors — what makes an application more competitive:
- Cumulative GPA on a 3.0 to 4.0 scale
- Prerequisite GPA on a 3.0 to 4.0 scale
- Leadership skills and community involvement
- Life or healthcare experiences relevant to nursing — provided through essay responses
- Oregon residency (slight additional consideration)
Application process — through NursingCAS only:
- Applications reopen in August 2026 — apply through NursingCAS (nursingcas.org); no separate OHSU application required for host campus
- Select program type: Accelerated B.S., dual admission Accelerated B.S. to D.N.P. (FNP, Nurse-Midwifery, PMHNP, or PNP), or Accelerated B.S. to Ph.D.
- Enter all college coursework in NursingCAS
- Send official transcripts directly to NursingCAS — confirm receipt with NursingCAS directly
- Complete essay responses addressing leadership, healthcare experience, and community involvement
Dual admissions pathway: Students may simultaneously apply to OHSU’s D.N.P. or Ph.D. programs through a single application — enabling a direct pathway from ABSN graduation into graduate study in FNP, Nurse-Midwifery, PMHNP, PNP, or Ph.D. programs without a separate re-application process.
Tuition Promise: OHSU guarantees that the per-credit tuition rate remains fixed throughout the program — no mid-program tuition increases — as long as the student maintains good academic standing and continuous enrollment.
Graduation requirement: Minimum 2.0 GPA to graduate.
Curriculum
Seventy-two nursing credits are distributed across a 15-month full-time program. Students enter with 108 non-nursing credits from their prior bachelor’s degree, which satisfies the remaining requirements for the 180-credit degree total. The nursing curriculum covers lower-division (200-level) foundational courses and upper-division (300- and 400-level) specialty and practice courses, culminating in an Integrated Practicum capstone.
Multiple program-of-study sequences are available depending on campus and start term — Portland offers summer, fall, and winter starts; Bend and Ashland offer summer starts. All sequences cover the same 72 nursing credits regardless of campus.
Prerequisite Overview
Six prerequisites required — all with B- or higher. Human Development has no expiration; all science/math prerequisites must be within 7 years of the intended start date. See the admission summary above for the full list and credit requirements.
72-credit nursing course sequence:
Foundational courses (200-level):
NRS 210 – Foundations of Nursing, Health Promotion
Introduces core nursing philosophy, the health promotion framework, and foundational professional practice concepts; establishes the theoretical lens through which all subsequent clinical content is applied
NRS 230 – Clinical Pharmacology I
First of a two-course pharmacology sequence; covers principles of drug action, major drug classifications, and medication safety fundamentals applied to nursing practice
NRS 231 – Clinical Pharmacology II
Advances pharmacological knowledge from NRS 230 into more complex drug therapies, interactions, and pharmacokinetic considerations across diverse patient populations
NRS 232 – Pathophysiological Processes I
First of a two-course pathophysiology sequence; covers physiological mechanisms of common disease processes as a foundation for clinical reasoning
NRS 233 – Pathophysiological Processes II
Advances pathophysiology content into more complex, multi-system disease states; prepares students for the acute and chronic care clinical environments in upper-division courses
Clinical specialty and practice courses (300–400 level):
NRS 331 – Nursing in Chronic Illness and End-of-Life Care
Covers nursing management of patients living with chronic disease and those receiving palliative or end-of-life care; integrates holistic, family-centered, and social determinants of health frameworks
NRS 332 – Nursing in Acute Care across the Lifespan
Focuses on nursing care for patients with acute health conditions across all developmental stages; builds assessment and intervention skills for high-acuity inpatient environments
NRS 410 – Population Health Practice
Applies public health principles, community health nursing frameworks, and population-level interventions to diverse and vulnerable populations; prepares students for community clinical settings
NRS 411 – Epidemiology
Covers epidemiological methods, disease surveillance, health data interpretation, and the relationship between population health patterns and nursing practice
NRS 412A – Nursing Leadership in Health Care Delivery Systems (Part 1)
First of a two-part leadership sequence covering organizational systems, interprofessional collaboration, quality improvement, and professional nursing leadership
NRS 412B – Nursing Leadership in Health Care Delivery Systems (Part 2)
Advances leadership content from 412A into complex health system navigation, policy implications, and preparation for leadership roles as a practicing RN
NRS 435 – Integrated Practicum
The program’s capstone clinical experience; an intensive, preceptored immersion integrating all prior nursing knowledge, clinical skills, and professional practice competencies in preparation for NCLEX and independent practice
More curriculum details, including campus-specific programs of study, are available at: OHSU School of Nursing Catalog 2025–26
Clinicals
OHSU arranges all clinical placements for every student — a structural advantage over programs where students are responsible for securing or coordinating their own rotations. Clinical sites are local to each host campus, and the academic health center network provides access to diverse, high-acuity healthcare environments throughout Oregon.
- Clinical arrangement: OHSU coordinates all placements — students do not need to arrange their own clinical sites
- Campus-based clinical networks: Portland students access OHSU’s primary clinical network and affiliated partners across the greater Portland metro; Bend students access Central Oregon clinical sites; Ashland students access Southern Oregon clinical sites
- Clinical site types: Hospitals, outpatient clinics, community health centers, specialty facilities, and population health settings — OHSU’s statewide healthcare presence provides access to more diverse settings than most single-institution ABSN programs
- Clinical coverage: Foundational nursing and health promotion, pharmacology application, acute care across the lifespan, chronic illness and end-of-life care, population health, epidemiology, leadership, and the integrated practicum capstone
- Integrated Practicum (NRS 435): The final capstone clinical experience — the program’s most intensive patient care immersion, preceptored by experienced OHSU-affiliated RNs across advanced clinical environments
- Simulation centers: OHSU Simulation is accredited by the American College of Surgeons Accredited Education Institute (ACS AEI) — one of the most rigorous simulation accreditations in healthcare education. Students access simulation at Portland and at OHSU partner sites statewide. Modalities include manikin-based simulation (newborn to adult), skills training, tissue-based simulation, virtual reality, and standardized patient encounters with trained actors. Interprofessional simulation allows nursing students to collaborate with medical, pharmacy, and other health professions students in team-based scenarios
- Specialty exploration through simulation: Emergency medicine, pediatrics, and labor and delivery scenarios are available through simulation before students encounter these settings in live clinical rotations
- Employment outcomes: OHSU states that many graduates find employment before completing the program — a direct reflection of the health system relationships built through OHSU-arranged clinical placements
Tuition
Estimated total resident program cost: $52,917 (Bend) | $53,506 (Ashland) | $59,421 (Portland)
OHSU publishes total program cost estimates by campus — one of the few programs in this review to provide all-in cost figures rather than per-credit rates alone. These totals include medical and dental insurance if required.
| Campus | Credits | Resident/Credit | Total Resident Cost | Total Non-Resident Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Portland | 72 | $611 | ~$59,421 | ~$72,723 |
Bend | 72 | $611 | ~$52,917 | ~$71,538 |
Ashland | 72 | $611 | ~$53,506 | ~$69,723 |
Tuition-only calculation (before campus-specific fees): 72 cr. × $611 = $43,992 (resident) | 72 cr. × $816 = $58,752 (non-resident)
Tuition Promise: The per-credit rate is guaranteed for the full program duration — no mid-program increases as long as the student maintains good standing and continuous enrollment.
Scholarship availability: OHSU offers more nursing scholarships than ever, including a $6,000 award specifically for new Accelerated B.S. students at the Ashland campus. Additional scholarships are available across all campuses — contact OHSU admissions for current scholarship details.
Border county in-state eligibility: Residents of select counties in California (Del Norte, Siskiyou, Modoc), Idaho, Nevada, and Washington may qualify for in-state tuition rates — contact OHSU admissions for county-specific eligibility details.
At published resident program costs ranging from ~$52,917–$59,421 across campuses, OHSU is priced below Linfield (~$73,332 direct costs), CSP Global (~$67,484), and most private Oregon ABSN programs — consistent with its claim of being the lowest-tuition comparable ABSN in Oregon. For non-Oregon residents, the $69,723–$72,723 range is competitive with private programs across the Pacific Northwest.
See the official tuition page for more details: OHSU School of Nursing Tuition & Fees
Accreditation
OHSU is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) and OHSU School of Nursing is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). Graduates receive comprehensive nursing education equivalent to 3-year B.S. students and are prepared to sit for the NCLEX-RN licensure examination.