Last Updated: October 2, 2026
Program Overview
A 15-month, campus-based second-degree BSN in Fairfield with regional clinical placements, a final clinical immersion and an optional nursing-leadership experience in Ireland.
Sacred Heart University’s program serves students with a prior bachelor’s degree. Students complete 55 nursing credits plus the three-credit CIT 202 seminar, building on 62 accepted prerequisite and elective credits for the 120-credit degree.
The usual schedule runs from late May to the following August. The admitted-student page identifies June 1, 2027 as the next start date. Classroom learning, nursing labs, simulation and clinical placements require full-time participation.
Admissions and Prerequisites
Applicants need a prior bachelor’s degree and a minimum 3.0 cumulative undergraduate GPA. The application requires official transcripts from all institutions, a 500-word essay and one recent professional or academic recommendation. External applicants use NursingCAS, with a listed $60 application fee; current SHU students and alumni use the internal application.
The current admissions page gives February 1, 2027 as the deadline, with rolling review afterward until the cohort is full. The main program page also lists a recurring December 15 priority date. Accepted students submit a $500 nonrefundable enrollment deposit.
The prerequisite list includes:
- Anatomy and Physiology I and II, General Chemistry, and Microbiology — four credits each, including labs; these cannot be taken fully online.
- College-level Math and Statistics — three credits each.
- Introduction to Psychology or Abnormal Psychology; Lifespan or Child Development; Sociology or Anthropology; and Ethics in any discipline — three credits each.
Science and math prerequisites need B− or better and must be within five years. Up to two prerequisites may be outstanding when applying; all prerequisites and the bachelor’s degree must be completed before classes begin. Applicants with older non-science courses should obtain transfer approval before applying.
Curriculum and Clinical Training
The program of study combines 55 nursing credits with the required three-credit Catholic Intellectual Tradition seminar. Companion labs carry zero additional credits. NU 391 carries three credits across both final summer sessions.
Required Courses and Credits
First summer I — 6 credits
| Course | Credits | What you study |
|---|---|---|
NU 206 — Foundations of Professional Nursing | 3 | Introduces nursing as a profession, focusing on health promotion, safety, and patient-centered care. Students practice foundational nursing skills and communication techniques through labs and simulations. |
NU 206L — Foundations of Professional Nursing Lab | 0 | Provides hands-on practice of skills taught in NU 206, including safety protocols and basic nursing care. |
NU 221 — Pharmacology & Nursing Implications | 3 | Explores pharmacological principles and safe medication administration. Focuses on critical thinking and the nursing process in pharmacological care. |
NU 221L — Pharmacology Lab | 0 | Accompanies NU 221 to develop medication administration skills through practical labs. |
First summer II — 5 credits
| Course | Credits | What you study |
|---|---|---|
NU 211 — Health, Wellness and Cultural Diversity | 2 | Explore health promotion, cultural awareness, access to care and the effects of social and economic barriers on health. |
NU 216 — Health Assessment | 3 | Focuses on assessing patients across the lifespan using interviews, history-taking, and physical examinations. Includes a head-to-toe systems approach and introduces clinical judgment. |
NU 216L — Health Assessment Lab | 0 | Offers lab-based practice in patient assessment techniques aligned with NU 216. |
Fall AHEAD I — 7 credits
| Course | Credits | What you study |
|---|---|---|
NU 311 — Pathophysiology | 3 | Covers physiological changes associated with acute and chronic health conditions, emphasizing disease prevention and risk reduction. |
NU 333 — Care of the Childbearing Family | 4 | Focuses on family-centered care, including pre- and postnatal nursing. Incorporates cultural sensitivity and evidence-based practices. |
Fall AHEAD II — 8 credits
| Course | Credits | What you study |
|---|---|---|
CIT 202 — Human Journey CIT Seminar II | 3 | Explores the Catholic Intellectual Tradition through interdisciplinary discussions, connecting past ideas to current societal challenges. |
NU 341 — Introduction to Adult Nursing | 5 | Introduces adult nursing with a focus on common medical/surgical issues. Includes simulation labs and clinical experiences in acute care. |
Winter B — 3 credits
| Course | Credits | What you study |
|---|---|---|
NU 366 — Evidence-Based Nursing Practice | 3 | Teaches how to appraise and apply evidence to improve patient outcomes. Students learn research integration and develop evidence-based recommendations. |
Spring AHEAD III — 8 credits
| Course | Credits | What you study |
|---|---|---|
NU 301 — Psychiatric Mental Health Nursing | 4 | Explores mental health nursing frameworks, focusing on therapeutic communication, advocacy, and interprofessional collaboration. Clinical practice includes recovery-focused care. |
NU 373 — Concepts in Child Health Nursing | 4 | Covers pediatric care, emphasizing development, acute and chronic disease management, and family-centered approaches. Includes clinical skill development. |
Spring AHEAD IV — 6 credits
| Course | Credits | What you study |
|---|---|---|
NU 361 — Adult Nursing II | 6 | Advances adult nursing skills, focusing on complex health conditions. Emphasizes clinical reasoning, safety, and high-risk interventions in simulation and acute care settings. |
May intensive — 3 credits
| Course | Credits | What you study |
|---|---|---|
NU 371 — Nursing Leadership | 3 | Examines leadership principles, policy development, and trends in global healthcare. Prepares students for professional practice and healthcare advocacy. |
Final summer — 12 credits across both sessions
| Course | Credits | What you study |
|---|---|---|
NU 380 — Public Health Nursing | 5 | Focuses on population health, addressing community needs through assessments, interventions, and partnerships. Emphasizes vulnerable populations. |
NU 391 — Senior Synthesis Seminar | 3 | Synthesize nursing knowledge, assess learning needs and prepare for NCLEX and professional practice; the course continues across the final summer’s two sessions and carries three credits total. |
NU 394 — Transition into Professional Nursing Practice | 4 | Complete a clinical immersion that integrates evidence, clinical judgment, care management and reflection while preparing for autonomous professional nursing practice. |
NU 380 is in final summer I, NU 394 in final summer II, and NU 391 continues across both. The catalog requires a cumulative GPA of at least 2.8 and C+ or higher in nursing courses, together with safe clinical practice.
Clinical Experience
Hands-on learning takes place across five state-of-the-art simulation labs and a high-fidelity simulation center with a bedside-care lab and eight simulation rooms, followed by clinical rotations at institutions including Yale New Haven Hospital, St. Vincent’s Medical Center, and Connecticut Children’s.
Placements are based in the communities surrounding Fairfield. The optional two-week Nursing Leadership intersession in Dingle, Ireland adds global clinical observation and a comparative look at professional practice.
The 2026–27 nursing student guide requires SDA students to maintain clinical clearance from June of their entry year. Requirements include an annual physical, TB screening, required vaccinations, background and drug checks, and an approved health-compliance account. Students arrange and pay for clinical transportation.
Accepted CPR credentials are AHA BLS for Healthcare Providers, AHA BLS RQI or American Red Cross BLS for Healthcare Providers. SDA students complete CPR during orientation if not already certified, and must keep certification current. The guide sets June 15 for SDA health documents and the required CHA test; cohort instructions may impose additional deadlines. Incomplete clearance can prevent clinical attendance and progression.
Tuition
The 2026–27 tuition schedule lists $820 per credit for Second Degree Accelerated Nursing. The 55 nursing credits cost $45,100 at that rate. Applying the same program rate to all 58 required SHU credits, including CIT 202, gives a $47,560 tuition planning estimate before fees. Confirm CIT billing and the rates for later academic years with Student Accounts.
- Registration: $115 for each registered billing semester; the university separately identifies fall, winter, spring, late spring/summer I and summer II billing periods.
- Nursing differential: $685 per applicable semester, associated with the courses listed in the fee schedule.
- Nursing Lab 2: $285 for each listed course. Ten courses in the published SDA plan appear in this fee category, totaling $2,850 if each is charged once.
- Other expenses: clinical compliance, books, uniforms, transportation, living expenses and any optional Ireland travel.
The published fee list also includes charges for other nursing tracks; those should not automatically be added to an SDA budget. The nursing differential and registration totals depend on how the university bills the accelerated sessions. Future-year rates may change.
The program spans financial-aid years: summer 2027 entrants need the 2026–27 and 2027–28 FAFSA, plus SHU’s Second Degree Accelerated BSN Financial Aid Application. The school code is 001403. Confirm currently available grants and scholarships with financial aid.
Accreditation and Outcomes
The baccalaureate nursing program at Sacred Heart is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The university reports a 100% NCLEX-RN pass rate for its 2025 Second Degree Accelerated BSN graduating class. It also reports that 100% of past graduates were employed as RNs within six months, but does not identify a specific cohort for that employment figure.
Reported past BSN employers include Mayo Clinic, Memorial Sloan Kettering, Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Yale New Haven Hospital. These are historical outcomes, not guaranteed placements. Graduates can pursue RN licensure and apply to graduate nursing programs, including Sacred Heart’s MSN and DNP options.