7 Best Nursing Schools in Minnesota – 2024 Rankings
Written By: Pattie Trumble, MPP, MPH
Minnesota doesn’t have a nursing shortage as such. It’s true that hospital nursing jobs can go unfilled for periods of time, but this is due to the fact that employers prefer to hire RNs who have experience. So even if they’ve set their sights on a job in the Twin Cities, new graduates of accredited nursing schools in Minnesota may want to take their first jobs in one of the more rural parts of the Land of 10,000 Lakes so that they can acquire experience. Other factors that impact the nursing profession in Minnesota are the relatively low nursing salaries throughout the state and the fact that more than half of the current job vacancies are for part-time work.
WHAT ARE THE BEST ACCREDITED NURSING SCHOOLS IN MINNESOTA?
(After closely assessing all nursing schools approved by the Minnesota State Board of Nursing, based on our Ranking Methodology, the following are the best accredited nursing schools in Minnesota offering BSN programs.)
1. University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
The nursing school is headquartered in the 11,000-square-foot Bentson Center. In addition to classrooms, study spaces, and workstations, this building also contains simulation labs that span the full continuum of nursing care, providing virtual acute, critical, surgical, skilled, ambulatory and home care environments. Students go on to participate in nursing rotations at the University of Minnesota Health, Fairview Health Services and other hospitals, clinics, and community agencies throughout the greater Twin Cities metropolitan region. The school also has a highly regarded partnership with Fairview Health Services and the University of Minnesota Health called the Nursing Collaboratory.
Financial Aid: Every year, the University of Minnesota’s School of Nursing awards more than $2 million in scholarship funds to its students. The school administers 47 undergraduate scholarships and 18 graduate scholarships. Filling out and submitting a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) form may also qualify you for financial aid from federal and state sources.
2. Winona State University, Winona
Both campuses are equipped with simulation centers, and simulation is embedded into the nursing curriculum so that students get to understand the practical applications of their classroom learning. Once students are comfortable performing bedside skills, they go on to real-life experiences through clinical rotations at Winona Health; Gundersen Health System; Mayo Clinic Health System—Franciscan Healthcare; Mayo Clinic Hospital, Methodist Campus; Rochester, Mayo Clinic Hospital and St. Mary’s Campus as well as other public health departments, schools, after-school programs and community agencies throughout western Minnesota.
Financial Aid: Winona State doesn’t offer any endowed scholarships specifically for aspiring nurses, but all incoming WSU students are automatically considered for other institutional scholarship opportunities. Filling out and submitting a FAFSA form may also put you on the list to receive Title IV federal and state financial aid.
3. College of St. Scholastica, Duluth
The renovated Nursing Skills and Procedures Laboratory reopened in the spring of 2018. Here, nursing students have the opportunity to learn and practice hands-on skills before they step foot in a hospital. The school has two campuses—one in Duluth and the other in St. Cloud. Students pursue clinical rotations throughout hospitals, clinics, and community agencies in both the Duluth and the St. Cloud areas. Several semesters of each student’s clinical rotation schedule take place in rural practice areas near the campus he or she is enrolled at.
Financial Aid: Though all entering students are automatically considered for any institutional scholarships for which they may qualify, St. Scholastica doesn’t offer nursing-specific scholarships as such. Students may also be able to finance their education at this college through federal and state grants and loans awarded on the basis of information submitted in their FAFSA forms.
4. St. Catherine University, St Paul
Students share the Nursing Applied Learning Lab on the Minneapolis campus with colleagues from the Henrietta Schmoll School of Health. The lab is equipped with hospital equipment, and other medical devices that practicing nurses use on a daily basis as well as with lifelike computerized manikins upon which students hone skills like IV insertion, medication administration and laboratory blood draws. St. Kate’s partners with health care facilities like Allina Health Systems, Fairview Health Services, HealthEast Care System, HealthPartners, Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) and North Memorial Health Care for clinical rotations.
Financial Aid: While St. Kate’s offers institutional merit scholarships and needs-based awards, it doesn’t provide any scholarships that are specifically earmarked for nursing students. The school vets all incoming students to see if they’re eligible for merit awards. Needs-based awards are determined on the basis of information contained in each student’s FAFSA submission.
5. Bethel University, St Paul
Students work with manikins in the department’s five state-of-the-art skills and simulation labs to learn essential nursing skills like how to practice injections and change wound dressings. These clinical environments also give aspiring nurses the opportunity to participate in clinical scenarios that range from common nursing challenges to complex multiple practice situations. Once they’re competent at bedside basics, students go on to pursue clinical rotation opportunities with more than 30 health care partners in the Twin Cities region, including all major hospital systems and seven public health departments.
Financial Aid: Nursing students at Bethel University may qualify for more than 30 scholarships that are specifically designated to meet the needs of nursing students. Needs-based financial aid may also be available for nursing students whose FAFSA forms indicate eligibility.
6. Minnesota State University Mankato, Mankato
The 16,000-square-foot Maverick Family Simulation Center in the Clinical Sciences Building is equipped with more than a dozen computerized manikins that are programmed to respond in realistic ways to physiological stressors. The manikins are used to create scenarios that give students opportunities to develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills. Once they’ve completed classroom learning objectives and honed their nursing fundamentals, students participate in clinical rotations scheduled at hospitals, clinics, and community agencies throughout Blue Earth, Nicollet, and Le Sueur counties. The nursing school also helps to administer a nurse-led clinic called Health Commons at Ponds, which provides health care services to preschoolers and students affiliated with the Bloomington school community.
Financial Aid: MSU Mankato doesn’t offer any nursing-specific scholarships, but they do encourage nursing students to apply for scholarships from external sources and include a list of external nursing scholarships on their website. Nursing students may also be eligible for other institutional scholarships. MSU Mankato participates in the Title IV program, so filling out a FAFSA form may qualify you for needs-based state and federal funding.
7. Metropolitan State University, St Paul
Students learn nursing fundamentals and specialized skills like critical thinking through the Nursing Simulation/Learning Lab. Clinical rotations include stints in health care settings such as acute care hospitals, community clinics, rural health centers, urgent care settings, home-based primary care, correctional health facilities and private specialty clinics throughout Minneapolis and St. Paul.
Financial Aid: Metropolitan State offers a limited number of academic achievement and Metropolitan State University Foundation-sponsored scholarships, but no funds are specifically designated for the education of nursing students. The university is quite proactive in helping students seek out sources of state and federal funding, however. In order to qualify for this funding, you’ll have to fill out and submit a FAFSA form
Pattie Trumble, MPP, MPH
Pattie Trumble is a nurse who worked in both California and New York for many years as an emergency room nurse. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley, and an Associate Degree in Nursing from the Samuel Merritt Hospital School of Nursing. After 10 years of providing direct care, she went back to school and earned concurrent Master’s degrees in both public policy and public health from the University of California, Berkeley. Thereafter, she worked for various public health agencies in California at both the community and state levels providing economic and legislative analysis.
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