Program Overview
Texas Lutheran University offers an Accelerated Bachelor of Science in Nursing (ABSN) designed for career changers who want to move into nursing through an intensive full-time format. Students can complete the program in as few as 16 months.
The ABSN is available at the university’s New Braunfels and Houston campuses.
It includes classroom instruction, simulation-based learning, research exposure, and extensive clinical practice. TLU states that students complete 945 hours of hands-on experience during the track, which is a strong practical component for an accelerated program.
The curriculum covers 60 nursing credit hours and is approved by the Texas Board of Nursing. .
The program highlights small class sizes, expert faculty mentorship, and advanced simulation facilities.
TLU presents this track as a direct route into professional nursing leadership and service.
ABSN Admission Summary
The TLU ABSN is intended for students with prior college education who want to transition into nursing. Admission standards place strong emphasis on prior academic success, recent science coursework, and readiness for professional nursing study.
Admission Requirements
- Official transcripts from all colleges attended
- Proof of a baccalaureate degree from a regionally accredited institution
- Minimum undergraduate GPA of 3.0
- ATI TEAS composite score of 70 or higher, taken within the last year
- One recommendation form
- Letter of reference is strongly encouraged
- Completion of two short essay questions
- Completion of required health requirements before enrollment in nursing courses
- Completion of Texas Board of Nursing background check and drug screening requirements
Prerequisite Requirements
Applicants must complete the prerequisite science courses within the past seven years and earn a 3.0 GPA or better in those courses.
Required science and support prerequisites include:
- Human Anatomy and Physiology I
- Human Anatomy and Physiology II
- Microbiology
- General Chemistry
- Nutrition
- Pathophysiology
- Statistics
- Developmental Psychology
Curriculum
The curriculum encompasses 60 credit hours spread over four semesters, combining classroom instruction, simulation training, and 945 clinical hours. Students gain hands-on experience in various specialties, including medical-surgical, pediatrics, OB-GYN, and emergency nursing.
The coursework covers fundamentals like health assessment, nursing leadership, community health, and evidence-based nursing practice, culminating in a capstone leadership practicum.
First Semester
NURS 330 – Age Span Assessment
Addresses holistic health assessment concepts across the lifespan for evidence-based nursing practice, including interviewing, health history, and physical assessment techniques. Emphasizes recognition of normal findings, common functional health pattern deviations associated with pathologies, and pharmacological assessment concepts. Develops foundational assessment skills with 4 credit hours.
NURS 332 – Fundamental Nursing Concepts & Practice
Addresses basic nursing concepts, therapeutic and evidence-based nursing processes, and beginning skills for professional registered nursing practice across the lifespan with health-focused emphasis. Examines safe, therapeutic, legal, and ethical medication administration and complementary/alternative modalities. Builds fundamental nursing competencies with 5 credit hours.
NURS 334 – Evidence-Based Prof Nursing I
Addresses historical, contemporary, and global perspectives on nursing’s role in society, professional nursing roles, and regulatory requirements within contemporary healthcare delivery systems. Emphasizes ethical and legal foundations, selected nursing theories, and practice standards to guide professional nursing development with 3 credit hours.
NURS 336 Health Care in 21st Century
Introduces 21st century healthcare environment and influencing factors in current healthcare with philosophical and theoretical basis for professional nursing in this environment. Emphasizes various healthcare financing methods, types of healthcare organizations, and government’s role in healthcare. Provides foundational understanding of contemporary healthcare systems and nursing’s place within them.
Second Semester
NURS 340 – Complex Nursing Concepts & Prac I
First of two courses focusing on complex nursing concepts for age-specific clients with acute and chronic health alterations. Emphasizes communication and life experience impacts on health status, collaborative medication management, therapeutic procedures, restoration, rehabilitation, and patient education. Applies critical reasoning and evidence-based practice with 7 credit hours.
NURS 342 – Behavioral Health/Psych Nursing
Focuses on behavioral/psychiatric nursing concepts for preventive and therapeutic measures applied to individuals, families, and communities across all ages. Emphasizes cultural and social influences on mental illness perceptions, emotions, mood, affect, anxiety, coping, stress, cognitive functioning, psychosis, and maladaptive behaviors with 5 credit hours.
NURS 344 – Nursing Research for Evid-Bsd Pract
Focuses on comparing qualitative and quantitative nursing research with emphasis on basic research process as foundation for evidence-based practice and validity/reliability determination systems. Includes research terminology understanding, monitoring techniques for nurse-sensitive indicators, and critical appraisal skills for research consumption with 3 credit hours.
NURS 479 Special Topics
Introduces 21st century healthcare environment and influencing factors in current healthcare with philosophical and theoretical basis for professional nursing in this environment. Emphasizes various healthcare financing methods, types of healthcare organizations, and government’s role in healthcare. Provides foundational understanding of contemporary healthcare systems and nursing’s place within them.
Third Semester
NURS 430 – Nursing of Childbearing Families
Covers physiologic and psychological aspects of pregnancy and birth with clinical skills for assisting families during childbearing, childrearing, health maintenance, and promotion. Applies nursing concepts for individuals and families in childbearing years, newborns, children, and adolescents with emphasis on development, culture, and family systems with 5 credit hours.
NURS 432 – Complex Nursing Concepts/Prac II
Second course focusing on complex nursing concepts for age-specific clients with acute and chronic health alterations, including complex multi-system issues like shock, trauma, transplantation, and disaster management. Emphasizes higher-level practice in communication, collaborative management, and evidence-based interventions with 7 credit hours.
NURS 434 – Leadership and Mgmt of Nursing Care
Develops clinical leadership and management skills for novice professional registered nurses as healthcare team members delivering high-quality, patient-centered care. Emphasizes theories, evidence-based practice, and research applied to unit and middle management leadership within healthcare systems with 3 credit hours.
Fourth Semester
NURS 440 – Community Health Nursing
Presents population-focused nursing practice overview and community health nursing responsibilities in various health settings. Emphasizes application of processes to population-focused practice and commonly encountered health problems of families and aggregates in promoting and protecting population health with 5 credit hours.
NURS 442 – Evidence-Based Prof Nursing II
Further develops evidence-based professional nursing competencies for practice in current and future healthcare organizations. Emphasizes nurse practice standards and values from Texas Nurse Practice Act and American Nurses Association applied to management skills, ethics, regulatory requirements, and delegation with 3 credit hours.
NURS 443 – Capstone – Nursing Leadership Pract
Focuses on practicum experience under registered nurse preceptor guidance for assuming various professional nurse roles including profession member, patient-centered care provider, safety advocate, and healthcare team member. Emphasizes leadership, management, communication, teaching, and research consumption with capstone project with 7 credit hours.
More curriculum details available in the course catalog here.
Prerequisite Courses
Students must complete the required support courses before beginning the nursing major. These prerequisites build the science and developmental foundation needed for the accelerated curriculum.
Prerequisite Summary
TLU expects applicants to enter the ABSN with recent and strong performance in core sciences and support courses. The program specifically requires these courses to be completed within the last seven years and with a minimum 3.0 prerequisite GPA.
Required Prerequisites
- BIOL 245 – Human Anatomy and Physiology I
- BIOL 246 – Human Anatomy and Physiology II
- BIOL 233 – Pathophysiology
- BIOL 242 – Microbiology
- BIOL 235 – Principles of Nutrition
- CHEM 147 – Principles of Chemistry
- PSYC 236 – Lifespan Development
- STAT 374 – Statistics
Clinicals and Hands-On Learning
Clinical preparation is a major strength of the TLU ABSN. The program includes 945 hours of hands-on training and clinical experience, which gives students broad exposure across multiple patient populations and care settings.
Students train in advanced simulation facilities and also complete real-world clinical work in hospitals and health care facilities in the San Antonio area. Clinical exposure includes:
- Medical-surgical acute care
- Geriatrics
- Surgery
- Behavioral and mental health
- Pediatrics
- OB-GYN
- Emergency room nursing
- Intensive care
- Intermediate care
- Community health
This range helps prepare graduates to care for individuals, families, groups, communities, and populations across the lifespan.
Tuition and Estimated Cost
The top-line estimated tuition for the TLU ABSN is about $77,500. This estimate is based on the school’s published block tuition of $19,375 per semester and the fact that the ABSN spans four semesters with semester loads between 14 and 17 credits.
Because the ABSN runs across four full terms, the block rate appears to be the best estimate rather than the lower summer hourly rate. Using only direct billed academic charges listed by the university, the estimated annual tuition and fees are $39,590 per year for undergraduates living at home or off campus.
Since the ABSN lasts about 16 months rather than a standard two-year period, tuition-only is the clearest estimate from the data provided.
A reasonable direct-cost estimate for tuition and standard fees is:
- Tuition alone: about $77,500
- Tuition plus basic annual fees, annualized across four semesters: roughly $79,000 to $81,000, depending on how the university applies term-based fees
Housing, meals, books, transportation, and other indirect costs are separate and should not be treated as program tuition.
See the official tuition page for more details.
Accreditation
Texas Lutheran University states that its baccalaureate degree program in nursing is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). This is the key nursing programmatic accreditor listed for the ABSN.
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