Tennessee State University School of Nursing

Why TSU nursing matters for Black students

Tennessee State University is the only public HBCU in Nashville and one of a small group of land-grant HBCUs nationwide. The university was chartered in 1912 and the School of Nursing was established in 1979, which means TSU has been graduating Black nurses into the Middle Tennessee workforce for more than four decades. For a Black student deciding where to do nursing school in the South, the choice often comes down to whether you want to be one of a handful of Black faces in a PWN program or whether you want to learn in a building where Black faculty, Black classmates, and Black patient advocacy are the default. TSU is that second environment.

The School of Nursing sits in the Health Sciences Building on the main TSU campus at 3500 John A. Merritt Boulevard. The executive director is Dr. Courtney Nyange, with Dr. Shaquita Bonds leading the MSN program and a dedicated BSN advisement office at 615-963-5273.

Programs offered

• Traditional BSN (120 credit hours, on-campus). Students complete 61 hours of general education and prerequisites, then move into the upper-division clinical sequence after a competitive admissions screen.
• RN-to-BSN (online). Currently on hold and not admitting per the School of Nursing's Degrees page. Verify status directly with the BSN office before applying.
• MSN, Family Nurse Practitioner (online, 49 credit hours, 750 clinical hours). Designed for working RNs with full-time (six semesters) and part-time (nine semesters) tracks.
• MSN, Holistic Nursing and MSN, Nursing Education concentrations, plus post-master's certificate options. The Online MSN-Education track is listed as on hold.

Accreditation

TSU's baccalaureate and master's nursing programs are accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), 3343 Peachtree Road NE, Suite 850, Atlanta, GA 30326. All nursing programs are approved by the Tennessee Board of Nursing, and the institution itself is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The exact accreditation term ("continuing" versus "initial") was not stated on the public accreditation page during this retrieval, so prospective students should request the latest ACEN status letter from the School of Nursing directly.

NCLEX-RN outcomes

The BSN program publishes its own outcome data on the program page. Reported NCLEX-RN pass rates are 100% (2023), 93% (2024), and 61.9% (2025). The 2025 figure is below Tennessee's 80% board threshold and below recent BSN state averages, and prospective applicants should ask the program directly what curricular or remediation changes are in place. Reported employment rates for graduates are 100% in 2023, 2024, and 2025, reflecting strong demand in the Nashville hiring market.

Admissions and deadlines

The Traditional BSN is a limited-access major. The most recent published cycle used a March 15 application deadline for Fall admission, with the BSN Admissions Committee selecting cohorts by mid-May for Fall and mid-November for Spring. Applicants need a cumulative GPA of at least 3.5 on a 4.0 scale, a "C" or higher in every prerequisite course (with science prerequisites required on first attempt), the TEAS or TSU pre-entrance nursing exam at the Proficient level or above, and full health, background, BLS, and liability coverage before clinical placement.

University undergraduate deadlines are Fall August 1, Spring December 1, Summer I May 1, and Summer II June 1. Graduate nursing applicants follow the School of Nursing's own deadlines: Fall July 15 and Summer March 15.

Cost

For 2025-2026, TSU's published estimated undergraduate tuition and fees are roughly $8,664 for Tennessee residents and $22,549 for out-of-state students. Estimated total cost of attendance, including housing, books, and living expenses, runs about $27,000 in-state and $41,000 out-of-state on campus. Run the TSU Net Price Calculator at the Financial Aid site for your individualized estimate, and ask the School of Nursing about scholarship funds specific to nursing students.

Clinical training in Nashville

Nashville is one of the largest health-care employer markets in the United States, headquartered home to HCA Healthcare, Ardent Health Services, and Community Health Systems. TSU describes its clinical partners as "major hospitals and health care agencies throughout the Nashville metro area and beyond." The school participates in the long-running Meharry-Vanderbilt-Tennessee State University Cancer Partnership, a National Cancer Institute U54 collaboration with Meharry Medical College and Vanderbilt-Ingram Cancer Center, and in a 5-year, $4 million NIH-funded health-equity partnership with Vanderbilt and Meharry called Engaging Partners in Caring Communities. Area hospitals commonly used by Nashville nursing programs include Nashville General Hospital (the safety-net public hospital, co-located with Meharry), the HCA TriStar Health system, Ascension Saint Thomas, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, and Metro Public Health.

Community and support

Black nursing students at TSU enter a community that includes the campus chapter of the Tennessee Nurses Student Association, the Middle Tennessee chapter of the National Black Nurses Association, and a deep alumni network across Nashville hospitals. The university's location places students minutes from Meharry Medical College, the historic Fisk and TSU corridor, and the federal qualified health centers that serve North Nashville. For a Black student who wants to learn nursing inside the largest Black-serving health-care ecosystem in the Mid-South, TSU is the most direct path.

Contact

BSN program: bsn@tnstate.edu, 615-963-5273. MSN program: msn@tnstate.edu, 615-963-5252. School of Nursing Executive Director Dr. Courtney Nyange: chines3@tnstate.edu, 615-963-5254. Mailing address: Health Sciences Building, Suite 402, 3500 John A. Merritt Boulevard, Nashville, TN 37209.