Best Nursing Schools in New Hampshire for 2023

Nursing Degrees & Schools / Best Schools New Hampshire

New Hampshire has a well-deserved reputation for natural beauty and charm. Then take a look at the state’s robust economy, tax advantages, and low crime rate, and it’s easy to see why it consistently ranks among the U.S. states with the highest quality of life index.  

U.S. News and World Report places the Granite State at Number 4 on its list of Best States, taking note of New Hampshire’s valleys, rivers, lakes, and mountains, the financial contributions of its high-tech industries, and its high quality in both healthcare and education.

Nursing school attendees in New Hampshire benefit significantly from this high quality. Not only do the hospitals where nursing students go for clinical training consistently rank #1 when it comes to providing the evidence-based processes of care, but nurses who are licensed in the state get the benefit of it being a Nurse Licensure Compact State, allowing nurses to practice across participating state borders without having to apply for a new license each time. Add to that the fact that the salaries paid to nurses in New Hampshire are not subject to income tax and boosted by the state’s lack of sales tax, and New Hampshire is an ideal place to pursue your nursing education.

New Hampshire’s top nursing programs:

1. University of New Hampshire
2. Saint Anselm College
3. Colby-Sawyer College
4. Rivier University
5. Southern New Hampshire University

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1. University of New Hampshire – Score 70

NCLEX Pass Rate – 93.59%

Annual In-State Tuition: $15,520

Annual Out-of-State Tuition: $34,430

In addition to its four-year BSN program, the University of New Hampshire offers a direct entry MSN program and a wide array of certification programs and graduate degree programs. These include nurse practitioner certificates for family nursing, adult-gerontology acute care, and psychiatric mental health. They also offer degrees in the same programs as well as in clinical nurse leadership, evidence-based practice, and doctoral programs. 

The school has a 78% graduation rate and engages in extensive social and medical science research. It also supports its students’ futures with career drop-in hours with no appointment necessary. Online programming is available for those pursuing a Doctor of Nursing Practice Degree.

CCNE-accredited programs offered:

·   BSN

·   MSN

·   DNP (in person and online)

2. Saint Anselm College – Score 64

NCLEX Pass Rate – 98.94%

Annual Tuition: $43,940        

Saint Anselm College is a liberal arts and sciences school, and its nursing program is based on a humanistic approach to patient care. The nursing program offers both a four year pre-licensure program and a hybrid post-licensure RN-to-BSN program for those who are already Registered Nurses. The department also offers continuing education for registered nurses. 

Nursing classes begin in the students’ first year of the four-year curriculum, growing progressively more hands-on and in-depth over the course of the program. The school has a 79% graduation rate, and recently announced plans to establish a School of Nursing and Health Professions to be housed in a new state-of-the-art nursing facility.

CCNE-accredited programs offered:

·   BSN

·   RN-BSN (hybrid)

3. Colby-Sawyer College – Score 60

NCLEX Pass Rate – 95.00%

Annual Tuition: $46,364

Colby-Sawyer College offers a student-centered, high quality nursing education with top tier clinical placements at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center as well as other inpatient and community healthcare clinics and organizations. Its program features a 100% online RN-to-BSN degree program that takes just 16 months to complete, and an accelerated BSN program designed for non-nursing bachelor’s or master’s degree holders.  

Nursing students begin training to pass the NCLEX during their very first class and start their clinical rotations as early as their second semester. The school, which has a 58% graduation rate, recently committed to tripling enrollment in its undergraduate BSN program and broke ground on a new, state-of-the-art home for its School of Nursing & Health Sciences.

CCNE-accredited programs offered:

·   BSN

·   Accelerated BSN

·   RN-BSN

·   MSN

4. Rivier University – Score 58

NCLEX Pass Rate – 91.67%

Annual Tuition: $35,445

Rivier University’s thirty-year-old nursing program graduates the largest number of nurses throughout the state of New Hampshire. It offers programs from an Associate Nursing (ASN) program through a DNP (Doctor of Nursing Practice) program, as well as bridge programs from Associate to BSN and BSN-to-MSN. 

The school has a 61% graduation rate, an average NCLEX-RN pass rate of 96.2% for first-time test takers, and a first-time pass rate for the ANCC exam for Family Nurse Practitioners of 100% over the last three years.

ACEN-accredited programs offered:

·   ASN

·   BSN

·   MSN

·   DNP

5. Southern New Hampshire University – Score 48

NCLEX Pass Rate – N/A 

Annual Tuition: $15,000

Southern New Hampshire University’s program is specifically created for “prepared nurses” who are already working and who want access to high quality, online programming. The school offers an RN-to-BSN program that can be completed in as little as one year and an RN-to-MSN pathway that allows registered nurses to finish their BSN while earning credit towards their MSN degree. They also offer MSN programs leading to executive leadership, to certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner, to leadership in Healthcare Quality and Safety or Population Health, or preparation to be a Nurse Educator. 

The school, which has a partnership with the local community college that offers students tuition discounts and allows them to transfer credits, has a 40% graduation rate.

CCNE-accredited programs offered:

·   RN-BSN (online)

·   Accelerated RN-to-MSN (online)

·  MSN programs 

Table

How to choose the right nursing program

The nursing school you choose makes a difference. When you’re weighing your options you need to factor in obvious elements like cost and convenience, but also the more subjective considerations like the school’s reputation, class size, the clinical experiences that it provides, whether programs are available on a flexible schedule or offered online, and more.

Take your time as you move forward, making sure that you thoroughly investigate the unique benefits that each program offers and measure them against your personal goals.

Location

If you’ve chosen to attend college in New Hampshire because you love quaint towns or want access to nature activities, there’s a good chance you’re going to be a traditional student. You’ll want to think about campus life and what types of dorms are available, but you’re largely free to choose a program almost anywhere in the state. 

But if you already live in New Hampshire and plan to commute, your options narrow considerably. Your best choice will be either a school that is relatively close to where you live or work, or one that offers online programs. One specific factor for which location may play a role pertains to the sites where you’ll be doing your clinical training.

Tuition

Whether you choose an online program or plan to spend four years living on a leafy green campus, tuition is always an important consideration. Roughly one in five Americans are carrying student debt, and though more than half owe less than $20,000, there are many who owe more than $100,000. 

Though you should not let the price keep you from attending your dream school, choosing a program with a hefty tuition may mean investigating grants and scholarships, loans, or tuition reimbursement offered by your employer.

NCLEX pass rate

Between graduating from your nursing program and starting your nursing career, you’ll need to pass the National Council Licensure Examination, or NCLEX exam, in order to get your state license. Though NCLEX pass rates are not necessarily a reflection of the quality of a school’s curriculum, they are at the least an indication of how much emphasis is placed on preparation for the test. Many nursing programs offer their students NCLEX prep classes, and these can be extremely valuable.

Programs offered

Nursing is a career with remarkable variability and opportunity for growth. Many executives and leaders in the field began in abbreviated programs that prepared them to work as LPNs, only to find a passion for the work and a hunger for more knowledge. 

Each nursing school has its own emphasis and offerings, with some providing programs that meet the needs of those who are already registered nurses but who seek their bachelor’s degree, and others offering the terminal nursing degree, Doctor of Nursing Practice. When investigating programs, make sure that each school you are considering offers the program that best meets your needs and career goals.

Graduation rate 

In assessing school quality, many people place a great deal of attention on a school’s graduation rate. Though this factor is a significant data point, it is also important to familiarize yourself with the overall graduation rate statistics: According to Forbes, fewer than six out of ten students attending four-year colleges have earned a bachelor’s degree within six years. 

Rather than using graduation rate as a measure of educational quality, it may be wiser to view it in terms of the support that the institution offers to students who are struggling.

Next steps

If you’ve determined that you want to attend a New Hampshire nursing program, you’ve already accomplished a great deal. The next steps in your journey will require dedication and commitment, starting with the tasks required to apply and gain entry to the program that best suits your goals and meets your needs. 

Gather all of the information for the programs you want to apply to and make a chart reflecting all of the materials you’ll need, the tests you’ll have to take, the deadlines for submission, and the fees you’ll have to pay. Don’t forget about applying for scholarships and financial aid! Remember that the more organized you are, the more smoothly the process will go and the more quickly you’ll be accepted and on your way.

No matter whether you’re about to embark upon a four-year BSN education or are working towards advancing your already-existing career, the time you spend in school will fly by faster than you realize, and it will soon be time for you to apply your education. When that time comes, Incredible Health will be ready with all of the resources you need, from information on obtaining your New Hampshire state nursing license to keeping you current on the required continuing education units. 

If you need advice on New Hampshire specific questions, our expansive support community includes plenty of nursing professionals native to the state.

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Methodology

In order to determine the best nursing schools in a state, Incredible Health compared the top schools among five categories: graduation rate, tuition, NCLEX pass rate, accreditation, and the number of nursing programs offered.

Each metric was scored on a 100-point scale with 100 representing the highest total for that category. Then we compiled the individual scores to get an overall score.

We used data from:

• University of New Hampshire
• Saint Anselm College
• Colby-Sawyer College
• Rivier University
• Southern New Hampshire University
• New Hampshire Board of Nursing
• U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard
• American Association of Colleges of Nursing
• Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing
• U.S. News & World Report Best Colleges Rankings