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Practical nurse education requirements
Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
There are several educational requirements to become a practical nurse. Practical nurses usually study nursing, nursing assistants, or nursing science. 30% of practical nurses hold a bachelor's degree, and 22% hold an master's degree. We analyzed 5,142 real practical nurse resumes to see exactly what practical nurse education sections show.
The most common colleges for practical nurses are the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Pennsylvania.
There are also many online practical nurse courses to help get the education required to be a practical nurse.
There are certain practical nurse certifications that you should consider. These practical nurse certifications include Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) and Medical Assistant.
What education do you need to become a practical nurse?
What degree do you need to be a practical nurse?
- Bachelor's, 30%
- Master's, 22%
- Associate, 20%
- Diploma, 17%
- Other Degrees, 11%
What should I major in to become a practical nurse?
- Nursing, 74%
- Nursing Science, 2%
- Business, 2%
- Other Majors, 20%
Most common colleges for practical nurses
| Practical nurse common college | Percentages |
|---|---|
| University of Pennsylvania | 10.21% |
| University of Phoenix | 9.79% |
| Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey | 7.23% |
| Excelsior College | 6.38% |
| University of Illinois at Chicago | 5.53% |
Best majors for practical nurses
| Rank | Major | Percentages |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nursing | 74.0% |
| 2 | Nursing Assistants | 2.5% |
| 3 | Nursing Science | 2.2% |
| 4 | Business | 2.1% |
| 5 | Health/Medical Preparatory Programs | 2.0% |
Best colleges for practical nurses
The best colleges for practical nurses are Emory University, New York University, and Vanderbilt University.
A practical nurse with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for practical nurses. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become practical nurses.
1. Emory University
Atlanta, GA • Private
In-state tuition
$51,306
Enrollment
6,975
2. SUNY Farmingdale
Farmingdale, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$8,306
Enrollment
9,394
3. New York University
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$51,828
Enrollment
26,339
4. Maria College of Albany
Albany, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$15,140
Enrollment
876
5. Clarkson College
Omaha, NE • Private
In-state tuition
$13,392
Enrollment
646
6. Inter American University of Puerto Rico Ponce
Mercedita, PR • Private
In-state tuition
$5,914
Enrollment
4,155
7. SUNY at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$10,099
Enrollment
21,404
8. Inter American University of Puerto Rico Arecibo
Arecibo, PR • Private
In-state tuition
$5,872
Enrollment
3,553
9. Inter American University of Puerto Rico Bayamon
Bayamon, PR • Private
In-state tuition
$5,940
Enrollment
4,169
10. Vermont Technical College
Randolph, VT • Private
In-state tuition
$15,108
Enrollment
1,350
20 best online courses for practical nurses
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1. Health After Cancer: Cancer Survivorship for Primary Care
This course presents basic principles of cancer survivorship to primary-care physicians. Developed by a team of experts in caring for cancer survivors, and narrated by a primary-care physician, this course provides practical tips and tools that can be easily integrated into medical practice. You will learn about the complex physical and psychosocial needs and concerns of the growing number of cancer survivors, along with the key role that primary care physicians have in guiding these patients...
2. Health for All Through Primary Health Care
This course explores why primary health care is central for achieving Health for All. It provides examples of how primary health care has been instrumental in approaching this goal in selected populations and how the principles of primary health care can guide future policies and actions. Two of the most inspiring, least understood, and most often derided terms in global health discourse are “Health for All” and “Primary Health Care.” In this course, we will explore these terms in the context...
3. Home Health Aide, Nurse Aide, Caregiver Certification Course
Become A Certified Home Health Aide, Personal Care Aide, Nurse Aide/ Caregiver At The End Of This Course. Enroll Now!!...
4. Providing Trauma-Informed Care
Exploring psychological trauma and how to provide care and compassion to trauma survivors...
5. Introduction to Integrative Nursing
This course is designed for nurses who are drawn to practice in a different way – nurses who value whole-person care and know that the essence of nursing practice is truly caring and healing. You will learn about the principles and practices of Integrative Nursing and how you can be a healing presence to all you serve. Then, you will do an integrative assessment and apply the principles of Integrative Nursing to improve symptom management and overall patient outcomes. Finally, you will explore...
6. Traditional herbal medicine in supportive cancer care: From alternative to integrative
Please join us for an exciting and innovative journey, examining one of the most important and often overlooked aspects of the oncology setting: Traditional Herbal Medicine in Supportive Cancer Care. This course is presented with short lectures offering a wide range of issues related to the principles and practice of herbal medicine in cancer care. The course includes interviews with leading world experts from the field of Integrative Oncology, from the U.S. and Canada, as well as Europe, the...
7. Coping Skills and Self-Care for Mental Health
Essential skills to manage intense emotions and develop a self-care practice to promote mental health...
8. The Key to Happiness: Self Care
Discover Self Care as a tool for creating positive change in your mental health, behaviours, and well-being...
9. Health Care Delivery in Healthcare Organizations
Have you ever needed health care and thought that there must be better ways to get or deliver health care? For example, have you found yourself thinking that there should be a way to get a diagnostic test or treatment at home? Or do you work in a healthcare organization and find yourself thinking that there must be better ways to deliver health care? If you have, this course is for you. Course content includes an overview of health care delivery including healthcare consumerism, the patient's...
10. Nursing Informatics Leadership Theory and Practice
“By the end of this Course, you will be able to…” • Evaluate effective leadership styles for leadership in nursing informatics in clinical or academic contexts to improve leadership success. • Discover core values that support effective nursing informatics leadership in academic and clinical contexts to inform development of a personal leadership mission statement. • Discover competing values and polarities related to knowledge leadership and management to promote successful leadership...
11. Dosage Calculations Mastery for Nursing & Pharmacy Students
Master Dosage Calculations in 5 Hours Without Memorizing Any Formulas and Pass the NCLEX or PTCB Exam...
12. Value-Based Care: Managing Processes to Improve Outcomes
COURSE 3 of 7. This course is designed to introduce you to critical office-based processes that a value-based practice must manage in the drive towards improved patient outcomes. In Module 2, we’ll focus on office-based and clinical patient-based supporting functions. At every level in healthcare, guidelines, processes, and functions exist to improve outcomes, and following a consistent process will return the best effect. Refine your understanding of value and learn strategies to provide real...
13. Prehospital care of acute stroke and patient selection for endovascular treatment using the RACE scale
Acute stroke is a time-dependent medical emergency. In acute ischemic stroke, the first objective is to restore brain flow using sistemic thrombolytic treatment and, in patients with large vessel occlusion, by endovascular treatment. In hemorrhagic stroke there are also specific treatments that can improve the clinical outcome. The sooner the initiation of all these therapies the higher the clinical benefit. Thus, the organization of Stroke Code systems coordinated between emergency medical...
14. Trauma Emergencies and Care
Welcome to Trauma Emergencies and Care. In this course, you will learn about some of the mechanics and physics of trauma on the human body, and how this can cause injury. You will continue to expand your new vocabulary with medical terminology, and learn how to describe the different injuries you may see. You will also learn about the trauma system itself- and when it is important to transport patients to a trauma center. Then we will dive into specific injuries based on what part of the body...
15. Palliative Care Always Capstone Course
The Palliative Care Always Capstone course is designed to let you test your knowledge about palliative and help others understand the value of palliative care, while showing your creative side. In this course, you will impact community awareness about palliative care, promote self-care and wellness, show-off your communication skills in a virtual environment, and finish the course off by proving your thoughts on ways to offer psychosocial support to a patient and family...
16. Health Care IT: Challenges and Opportunities
A strong argument can be made that the health care field is one of the most information-intensive sectors in the U.S. economy and avoidance of the rapid advances in information technology is no longer an option. Consequently, the study of health care information technology and systems has become central to health care delivery effectiveness. This course covers the modern application of information technology that is critical to supporting the vision and operational knowledge of the health care...
17. Pain Management: Easing Pain in Palliative Care
In this course, you will be able to develop a systems view for assessing and managing pain in the palliative care setting. By the end of the course, you will be able to: 1) Describe the pain problem in the palliative care setting; 2) Assess a person’s pain, 3) Explain the benefits of integrative therapies and pharmacologic strategies to manage pain...
18. COVID-19 Training for Healthcare Workers
COVID-19 is rapidly spreading across the globe and all providers must be prepared to recognize, stabilize and treat patients with novel coronavirus infection. Following completion of this short course physicians, nurses, and other healthcare professionals will have a unified, evidenced-based approach to saving the lives of patients with COVID-19, including those who are critically ill. Learning modules are broken into short videos presented in a richly illustrated and compelling manner. The...
19. Addiction Treatment: Clinical Skills for Healthcare Providers
This course is designed with a singular goal: to improve the care you provide to your patients with substance use disorders. By delving into a model case performed by actors, seven Yale instructors from various fields provide techniques to screen your patients for substance use disorder risk, diagnose patients to gauge the severity of their use, directly manage treatment plans, refer out to treatment services, and navigate the various conditions that may limit your patient’s access to treatment...
20. Emergency Care: Pregnancy, Infants, and Children
Welcome to the final course of lectures in your quest to master EMT basics. In this course, we will cover some of the highest-stress patient populations: pregnant patients and kids, also known as pediatrics. To wrap up your EMT knowledge we will end this course with information about hazmat situations, extricating patients from tight spots and finally how you write a note about your patient care. You will learn to ensure it communicates what your assessment of the patient was, what...
Top 10 most affordable universities for practical nurses
The most affordable schools for practical nurses are SUNY Farmingdale, dickinson state university, and maine college of health professions.
If the best universities for practical nurses are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for practical nurses.
1. SUNY Farmingdale
Farmingdale, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$8,306
Cost of attendance
16,091
2. Dickinson State University
Dickinson, ND • Private
In-state tuition
$6,768
Cost of attendance
15,506
3. Maine College of Health Professions
Lewiston, ME • Private
In-state tuition
$12,245
Cost of attendance
18,826
4. Hunter College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,182
Cost of attendance
13,998
5. Brigham Young University
Provo, UT • Private
In-state tuition
$5,620
Cost of attendance
18,136
6. Inter American University of Puerto Rico Arecibo
Arecibo, PR • Private
In-state tuition
$5,872
Cost of attendance
13,476
7. Inter American University of Puerto Rico Ponce
Mercedita, PR • Private
In-state tuition
$5,914
Cost of attendance
13,564
8. Inter American University of Puerto Rico Bayamon
Bayamon, PR • Private
In-state tuition
$5,940
Cost of attendance
13,508
9. Inter American University of Puerto Rico Barranquitas
Barranquitas, PR • Private
In-state tuition
$5,902
Cost of attendance
13,479
10. Inter American University of Puerto Rico Aguadilla
Aguadilla, PR • Private
In-state tuition
$5,902
Cost of attendance
13,284
Top 10 hardest universities to get into for practical nurses
The hardest universities for practical nurses to get into are Emory University, New York University, and Vanderbilt University.
Some great schools for practical nurses are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for practical nurses based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.
1. Emory University
Atlanta, GA • Private
Admissions rate
19%
SAT average
1,449
2. New York University
New York, NY • Private
Admissions rate
20%
SAT average
1,419
3. Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN • Private
Admissions rate
10%
SAT average
1,514
4. University of Rochester
Rochester, NY • Private
Admissions rate
29%
SAT average
1,422
5. University of Tulsa
Tulsa, OK • Private
Admissions rate
41%
SAT average
1,321
6. SUNY at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY • Private
Admissions rate
56%
SAT average
1,250
7. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD • Private
Admissions rate
11%
SAT average
1,513
8. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Private
Admissions rate
40%
SAT average
1,376
9. Clemson University
Clemson, SC • Private
Admissions rate
47%
SAT average
1,337
10. Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA • Private
Admissions rate
28%
SAT average
1,429
Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for practical nurses
The easiest schools for practical nurses to get into are Barry University, adventhealth university, and holy names university.
Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a practical nurse without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for practical nurses.
1. Barry University
Miami, FL • Private
Admissions rate
91%
SAT average
1,006
2. AdventHealth University
Orlando, FL • Private
Admissions rate
87%
SAT average
1,016
3. Holy Names University
Oakland, CA • Private
Admissions rate
70%
SAT average
849
4. Pennsylvania State University - Shenango
Sharon, PA • Private
Admissions rate
75%
SAT average
989
5. Pennsylvania State University - Fayette (The Eberly Campus)
Lemont Furnace, PA • Private
Admissions rate
80%
SAT average
1,067
6. D'Youville College
Buffalo, NY • Private
Admissions rate
100%
SAT average
1,072
7. Nyack College
New York, NY • Private
Admissions rate
98%
SAT average
999
8. Washington Adventist Hospital
Takoma Park, MD • Private
Admissions rate
52%
SAT average
958
9. Gwynedd Mercy University
Gwynedd Valley, PA • Private
Admissions rate
92%
SAT average
1,031
10. Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Bartlesville, OK • Private
Admissions rate
68%
SAT average
964
Average practical nurse salary by education level
| Practical nurse education level | Practical nurse salary |
|---|---|
| High School Diploma or Less | $80,417 |
| Bachelor's Degree | $84,406 |
| Some College/ Associate Degree | $83,333 |
Practical nurse education FAQs
Have more questions? See all answers to common healthcare practitioner and technical questions.
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Updated January 8, 2025
Updated January 8, 2025