Hampton University School of Nursing

Hampton University's School of Nursing opened in 1891 as the Hampton Training School for Nurses and graduated Anna DeCosta Banks as its first nurse. It is the first nursing program established at any HBCU and the oldest continuous baccalaureate nursing program in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The school added a BS degree in 1943, launched the first HBCU master's in nursing in 1976, and started the first HBCU PhD in nursing in 1999.

Accreditation and regulatory status

The baccalaureate program is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE) and holds full approval from the Virginia Board of Nursing. CCNE granted the master's program initial accreditation effective September 30, 2024, with a two-year term running through June 30, 2027; the school must submit a focused compliance report and is expected to seek the standard five-year extension after that. The PhD program is not subject to CCNE specialized accreditation.

Programs

Hampton runs a fuller stack than most HBCU nursing schools.

• Traditional Pre-Licensure BSN, four years, residential.
• Accelerated Second Degree BSN for students who already hold a bachelor's degree in another field.
• LPN-to-BSN bridge for licensed practical nurses.
• RN-to-BSN, 1-Year Accelerated, fully online, 8-week sessions through HamptonU Global. Minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA, current unencumbered RN license, 55 transferable general-ed credits required.
• RN-to-BSN, 2-Year, online.
• MSN with three tracks: Nursing Education, Nursing Administration, and Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP). 46 to 47 credit hours, didactic courses scheduled in the evening to accommodate working nurses.
• PhD in Nursing, 60 credit hours, three years, with research concentrations in family-focused inquiry or nursing education.

Admissions reality

Hampton uses a two-tier nursing admissions process. Acceptance to the university gets you into the Pre-Professional Nursing Program. Progression into the Professional Nursing Program is a separate competitive review, and enrollment in Pre-Professional does not guarantee a seat in Professional. The school requires a 3.0 cumulative GPA and 3.0 math/science GPA for transfer and change-of-major applicants; freshmen are told a 3.0 high school GPA with B-or-better grades in algebra, biology, and chemistry is the expectation. Nursing coursework from other institutions does not transfer.

University-level deadlines for first-time freshmen are November 15 (Early Action, non-binding) and March 1 (regular), with rolling decisions after that. Apply through the Common App.

Cost

Hampton is a private HBCU, so tuition is the same regardless of state residency. Published 2025-2026 figures: tuition $28,308, comprehensive fee $3,204, technology fee $250, e-books $560, plus a $800 program fee specific to nursing students. On-campus students add roughly $7,800 housing and $7,188 for the 19-meal dining plan, putting full residential cost of attendance near $48,000 per year before health insurance. Off-campus tuition and fees alone run about $33,000.

The sticker is real. Hampton's median student debt and net price are higher than at Virginia's public BSN options (ODU, VCU, Norfolk State). Run the numbers against your aid package before committing, and budget separately for NCLEX prep, scrubs, lab kits, the program fee, and Virginia RN licensure costs at the end.

NCLEX performance

Hampton reports a three-year average first-time NCLEX-RN pass rate of 95.37 percent across its prelicensure pathways, comfortably above the Virginia Board of Nursing's 80 percent minimum threshold for continued program approval. Public year-by-year breakdowns for the most recent cycle are not posted on the school's site; the Virginia Department of Health Professions publishes annual pass-rate spreadsheets at the Board of Nursing testing pass rates page for cross-verification.

Clinical placements

Hampton sits in the middle of Hampton Roads, one of the densest healthcare markets in the Mid-Atlantic. Publicly named clinical sites include Chesapeake Regional Medical Center, Children's Hospital of The King's Daughters, and the Hampton VA Medical Center. Sentara Healthcare and Riverside Health System are the dominant inpatient employers in the region and hire heavily from Hampton, though the school has not published a full affiliation roster. Expect rotations across acute care, pediatrics, behavioral health, community health, and VA settings.

Community and student life

The student body is predominantly Black, and the nursing school's institutional memory traces directly to Reconstruction-era nurse training. Chi Eta Phi Sorority (the historically Black nursing service organization founded in 1932) and a Hampton chapter of the Student Nurses Association are both active. The university requires on-campus residence for most undergraduates, which keeps the cohort tight and is part of why Hampton graduates tend to stay connected after licensure.

Contact

School of Nursing main office: 757-727-5251, William Freeman Hall, 100 E. Queen Street, Hampton, VA 23668. Program inquiries route through the Nursing Contact Us page; the school does not publish a dedicated admissions email, so general questions can go through webmaster@hamptonu.edu or the university admissions office at 757-727-5000.