Best RN-to-BSN Programs in Tennessee (2026)

LMU's Caylor School of Nursing runs its RN-to-BSN track as a bridge option built specifically for nurses who already hold an RN license. It is completely online and structured for full-time or part-time pace, so a working RN sets the speed. The program admits three times a year, fall, spring, and summer, which matters if you want to start sooner than a once-a-year academic calendar allows. Applicants who are not already an LMU ASN student submit a separate RN-BSN application alongside the general university application.

Tuition runs $26,448 a year, the same figure whether you're a Tennessee resident or not. LMU's Hakia Score of 77.5, the highest of any RN-to-BSN completion option in Tennessee for 2026, reflects that combination of full online delivery, three annual start dates, and a straightforward bridge pathway for licensed nurses. It fits an RN who wants to keep working full time and needs entry points more often than once a year. The national median RN salary sits at $97,550, but the BSN itself is what opens doors at Magnet-designated hospitals and into graduate nursing tracks, not an automatic raise on its own.

Southern Adventist's School of Nursing runs its RN-to-BSN as two tracks: on campus or online. The on-campus track finishes in as few as two semesters, longer if you still need general education or cognate coursework. The online track is part-time by design and typically takes four semesters. Either way, you have to already be a graduate of an ACEN-accredited associate or diploma nursing program to apply. Online admission happens fall, winter, and summer; on-campus admission happens fall and winter only.

The BSN program is accredited by ACEN and approved by the Tennessee Board of Nursing. Tuition runs $26,000 a year. Southern's Hakia Score of 77.4 puts it second among Tennessee's RN-to-BSN options for 2026, just behind LMU, driven by the dual on-campus/online structure and the ACEN-verified transfer pathway for associate and diploma-prepared nurses. It fits an RN who wants a defined, ACEN-accredited pipeline from associate degree to bachelor's, whether that means finishing fast on campus or working through it part-time online.

South College's BSN pathway is available online as well as on its eight campuses, including its home base in Knoxville. The school markets itself hard on nursing rankings, citing #1 in Tennessee for nursing 2025-2026 and #8 nationally for 2025. Upper-division coursework runs about 20 hours of in-class time a week on the traditional track, covering mental health, pediatric, adult health, maternal-infant, and community health nursing alongside nursing management, leadership, and research, the same core areas an RN completing a bachelor's needs to round out.

At $16,450 a year, South College is the least expensive of Tennessee's ranked RN-to-BSN completion options, well under what LMU or Southern Adventist charge. Its Hakia Score of 73.5 ranks third in Tennessee for 2026, weighed against a 42% graduation rate reported to IPEDS. It's built for an RN who wants the lowest sticker price and a straight line into South College's own graduate nursing tracks, family nurse practitioner, psychiatric-mental health NP, adult-gerontology acute care NP, or the DNP, without switching institutions.

Baptist Health Sciences University built its RN-to-BSN curriculum around the working diploma or associate-degree nurse, layering in public health nursing, leadership, and research for evidence-based practice, the courses that separate an ADN from a BSN. When it was open, the program offered online, blended, flex, and face-to-face formats so a student could pick the delivery that fit a shift schedule, and students could take general education courses at the same time as nursing courses. But the school's own page states the RN-to-BSN program is no longer accepting admissions effective fall 2024. If you're a working RN in Memphis considering Baptist, confirm directly with the School of Nursing whether or when the completion track reopens before you build a plan around it.

The broader baccalaureate nursing degree at Baptist is CCNE-accredited and approved by the Tennessee Board of Nursing. Historical tuition was $12,216 a year, the lowest of the four, but that's moot for a closed admissions track. Baptist's Hakia Score of 69.5 reflects that closure weighed against real strengths elsewhere in its nursing program. The BLS wage data for registered nurses still applies nationally regardless of which school issues your BSN; the degree buys eligibility and advancement, not an automatic pay bump.

Austin Peay State University's School of Nursing runs its Bachelor of Science in Nursing as two tracks: a pre-licensure major and an RN to BSN concentration for nurses who are already licensed. Both operate under the same doctoral-educated faculty and under Tennessee Board of Nursing rules. APSU's public program page leads with outcomes data rather than a published transfer-credit count or a stated month-to-completion figure, so a working RN should confirm exactly how many ADN or diploma credits transfer and whether coursework runs online, hybrid, or on-campus before enrolling; those specifics live with an admissions advisor, not on the outcomes page.

In-state tuition is $7,272 a year against $13,032 out-of-state, a meaningful gap for a Tennessee RN who already has residency. The baccalaureate program, including the RN to BSN concentration, is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and fully approved by the Tennessee Board of Nursing. The program's own numbers show a 99.08% completion rate for its 2025 cohort and a 93% employment rate the same year, evidence the pipeline finishes what it starts even though the school's overall IPEDS graduation rate sits at 40%. Hakia's ranking score of 64.7 for this program weighs that completion strength against the broader graduation-rate figure. This is a fit for a working RN in or near Clarksville who wants an in-state, CCNE-accredited bachelor's to clear a hospital's BSN preference or open the door to an MSN later, national RN pay of $97,550 a year holds regardless of degree level, so the case for finishing the BSN here rests on employer requirements and advancement, not a guaranteed raise.