Southern University and A&M College School of Nursing

Southern University and A&M College School of Nursing sits on the historic Scotlandville bluff in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, anchoring a Black nursing pipeline that the rest of the state has come to depend on. Established in 1985 with its first BSN cohort of fourteen graduating in 1988, the program has grown into the largest producer of African American registered nurses in Louisiana and the third-largest producer of African American BSN graduates in the United States.

For a Black student weighing where to train, that single fact reshapes the calculus. You will not be the only one. You will not be explaining yourself. The faculty who teach pharmacology, med-surg, and community health were trained inside the same culturally affirming environment they now extend to you. Endowed professorships funded through the Baton Rouge Area Foundation keep senior Black nursing scholars at the front of the classroom rather than recruited away to predominantly white institutions.

Accreditation and academic standing

The BSN, MSN, and DNP programs at Southern are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, the standard-setting body whose stamp is required for federal Title IV funding, military scholarships, and most graduate-school transfers. All programs hold full approval from the Louisiana State Board of Nursing.

Programs offered

The traditional Bachelor of Science in Nursing is the flagship four-semester upper-division program that students enter after completing prerequisite coursework in anatomy, physiology, microbiology, chemistry, and the general education core. A fully online RN-to-BSN bridge serves working associate-degree nurses, including an articulation pathway from Baton Rouge Community College and Southern University at Shreveport. Graduate offerings include the Master of Science in Nursing, the Doctor of Nursing Practice, and a PhD in Nursing that trains the next generation of Black nursing scientists and faculty.

Admissions and deadlines

The BSN program admits twice a year. Fall applications open January 1 and close February 15 at 10:59 pm Central. Spring applications open August 1 and close September 15 at 10:59 pm Central. Applications run through Nursing CAS with a sixty-dollar fee, and prerequisites must be finished by the end of the term immediately preceding entry. A minimum cumulative GPA of 2.80, a grade of C or better in every prerequisite nursing course, and ATI TEAS 7 scores are required. Science coursework cannot be older than five years. The BSN program office is in JK Haynes Hall Room 144 and reachable at (225) 771-2662; the School of Nursing main line is (225) 771-3266.

Tuition and cost of attendance

Estimated full-time undergraduate tuition and fees for 2025-2026 sit at roughly $9,922 for Louisiana residents and $17,272 for out-of-state students. The 2024-2025 cost of attendance budget, the figure that financial aid is built against, runs about $25,136 for in-state students living on campus and $32,486 for non-residents. Southern publishes per-semester tuition PDFs at the Bursar's office page and the official COA budget on the Financial Aid page; about eighty-eight percent of first-year students receive need-based aid.

Clinical training

Clinical rotations partner with three major Baton Rouge health systems: Our Lady of the Lake Regional Medical Center, Woman's Hospital, and Baton Rouge General Medical Center. Woman's Hospital alone employs more than 115 Southern nursing graduates and currently hosts more than 140 Southern students in active clinical placements, an unusually deep pipeline between a single hospital and a single school. The 2018 five-million-dollar gift from Woman's Hospital expanded simulation lab capacity and is gradually doubling the program's enrollment ceiling.

NCLEX outcomes

Louisiana's statewide first-time NCLEX-RN pass rate was 93.52 percent in 2024 per the Louisiana State Board of Nursing Annual Report. Southern's most recently reported three-year rolling first-time pass rate is approximately 87 percent. The single-year 2024 figure published in the LSBN annual report is the authoritative number and worth checking directly. Pass rates fluctuate with cohort size and the introduction of the Next Generation NCLEX, so context matters more than any single year.

Who Southern is for

Southern is the right fit if you want a clinically rigorous BSN inside a Black institutional culture, want to graduate into a Baton Rouge hospital workforce that already knows and hires Southern nurses, and want a pathway that runs from BSN straight through DNP or PhD without ever leaving the same school of nursing. The combination is rare. The professional network you build during pre-licensure rotations is the same network that will hire you, mentor you, and eventually credential your graduate work.

To start, complete the general university application through subr.edu, finish your prerequisite sequence, and watch the BSN admission window. Direct questions about your prerequisite plan to the BSN office at (225) 771-2662.