Nursing Schools in Sacramento: Top Online & Campus Programs

Sacramento State offers two pre-licensure options for students seeking to launch or advance their nursing careers as RNs. The Traditional BSN program is designed for students with no previous nursing experience. Its two-year format requires completion of general education and other lower-division coursework before starting the program. This coursework can be completed at Sacramento State or another accredited institution or applied from a non-nursing bachelor’s degree. Current LVNs can opt for the 30-unit LVN to RN non-degree program that qualifies them to take the NCLEX-RN. LVN to RN students do not receive a BSN with this program.

Sacramento State also offers an RN to BSN program for current RNs without nursing bachelor’s degrees. It also has a traditional MSN for RNs with nursing bachelor’s degrees interested in preparing for advanced clinical or educator positions.

RN options at Sacramento City College include a four-semester AS in Registered Nursing, a three-semester AS in LVN-RN Transition to Registered Nursing, and an LVN to RN 30-Unit Option Certificate program. All three of these RN programs are full-time and include the nursing theory coursework and clinical rotation hours needed for NCLEX-RN eligibility. SCC also offers a three-semester, full-time AS in Vocational Nursing program that provides LVN examination eligibility.

SCC’s nursing programs are among the most affordable from nursing schools in Sacramento. The RN program costs $5,860, and the LVN associate program costs $4,000. The low cost of the programs allows full-time students to reduce their working hours to under 12 hours a week to manage the rigorous nature of these programs.

Samuel Merritt University is a private, healthcare-focused university that offers several nursing degree programs on its Sacramento Campus. Undergraduate options include an Accelerated BSN program that allows students with bachelor’s degrees in non-nursing majors to qualify for the NCLEX-RN. The intensive full-time curriculum combines nursing theory coursework with clinical rotation hours into a fast-track format that is completed in around 12 months.

Current RNs can earn their nursing bachelor’s degrees through Merritt’s RN to BSN program. This program features a 20-month, part-time hybrid format with face-to-face classes that meet four hours each week plus one Saturday in the first and third terms. Students also complete in-person community health clinical rotations eight hours per week in the fourth term.

Graduate-level nursing programs at Merritt include standard and entry-level MSNs with Family Nurse Practitioner and Case Management specialization options and a DNP with Family Nurse Practitioner specialization. Merritt also offers a 100% online DNP option.

Chamberlain University is a private university based in Illinois that offers nursing and other healthcare-related programs online and on campuses throughout the U.S., including in Sacramento. Via NC-SARA participation, Chamberlain offers more than 40 accredited online degree and certificate programs authorized for California students. This includes an RN to BSN program featuring 100% asynchronous online coursework that can be completed in as little as one year of full-time study.

In addition to its RN to BSN, Chamberlain offers a substantial slate of online nursing graduate options, including MSNs in three clinical and five non-clinical specializations, post-graduate certificates in 10 specializations, an RN to MSN with both accelerated and RN-BSN options, and a DNP that can be completed in as little as one year.

The University of San Francisco, a Jesuit-affiliated private university, offers a traditional BSN program through its Sacramento campus that can be completed partially online. This is a completion program, meaning that admission requires substantial clinical prerequisite coursework. The two-year (six semesters) curriculum is primarily campus-based with students attending the bulk of their nursing classes on the Sacramento campus. However, some required nursing courses are offered online as are many core curriculum (general education) courses.

Clinical hours focus on the care of veterans with facility placements made through the program’s partnership with the VA Northern California Health Care System. Additional clinical hours are attended at Mercy San Juan and Shriners Hospital. Other online options from USF include RN to MSN, 4+1 BSN-MSN, and DNP programs.

Sierra College is a community college offering several nursing programs that can be completed partially online. These include a two-year ADN for students with little or no previous college or nursing experience and a 1 ½-year LVN to RN Upper Mobility program where LVNs join the school’s ADN program in either its second or third semester to complete all RN prelicensure requirements. Sierra also offers an ADN to BSN Collaborative Merger Track that allows select ADN students to take nursing bachelor’s courses through Sacramento State while completing their ADN programs at Sierra.

All Sierra nursing programs are campus-based, which means students complete most required classes (including all nursing classes) on-campus. Clinical rotation hours are completed at healthcare facilities in the Rocklin and surrounding area. However, many required general education courses are available online, most in an asynchronous format.