BSN programs in Michigan
31 BSN programs compared on what happens after graduation: first-time NCLEX-RN pass rates, what a year costs, what graduates owe and what they earn.
- 84.5%
- of first-time test-takers from Michigan BSN programs passed the NCLEX-RN, 2025 (national BSN rate: 87.6%, 2025)
- 28
- programs with at least 20 first-time test-takers over three years, so their pass rate is ranked; 3 more are shown without a rank
- $94,300
- median yearly pay for registered nurses in Michigan, May 2025 (BLS)
What the data shows
- Spread between programs. Among the 28 programs with at least 20 first-time test-takers, three-year pass rates run from 71.2% (Chamberlain University-Michigan) to 96.1% (University of Michigan-Ann Arbor), a gap of 24.9 points.
- Against the national rate. BSN graduates in Michigan trailed the national first-time rate of 87.6% by 3.1 points. Programs here passed 84.5% of 2,604 first-time test-takers in the latest year each reported (2025).
- Lowest net price with an above-average pass rate. University of Michigan-Flint has the lowest average net price ($8,320 a year) of the 14 ranked programs that were at or above the state's pooled pass rate of 87.4%.
- Direction of travel. 17 of 31 programs reported a lower first-time pass rate in their latest year than in their earliest of the three years shown (2023 to 2025 for most).
28 BSN programs ranked by first-time pass rate
Ordered by the pass rate pooled over the program's last three reporting years. The dots show each year, newest in blue; the vertical line marks the Michigan average for the latest year.
| Program | First-time NCLEX-RN pass rate | Test-takers | Net price a year | Median loan debt | Pay 1 year out | Graduation rate | Accredited by | Online option |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Michigan-Ann ArborAnn Arbor, Public | 96.1%2023: 96.0% · 2024: 97.4% · 2025: 94.6% | 533 | $14,362 | $18,691 | $82,804 | 93% | CCNE | No |
| Saginaw Valley State UniversityUniversity Center, Public | 94.7%2023: 92.2% · 2024: 98.6% · 2025: 92.9% | 377 | $12,147 | $24,613 | $81,713 | 49% | CCNE | Partly |
| Hope CollegeHolland, Private | 94.6%2023: 92.9% · 2024: 97.7% · 2025: 93.2% | 130 | $26,392 | $27,000 | $79,241 | 79% | CCNE | No |
| Lake Superior State UniversitySault Ste Marie, Public | 93.5%2023: 100.0% · 2024: 95.0% · 2025: 83.3% | 108 | $9,782 | $26,329 | $71,137 | 50% | CCNE | No |
| Ferris State UniversityBig Rapids, Public | 92.7%2023: 100.0% · 2024: 93.8% · 2025: 84.7% | 178 | $8,402 | $19,500 | $79,620 | 46% | CCNE | Partly |
| Northern Michigan UniversityMarquette, Public | 92.6%2023: 93.2% · 2024: 97.3% · 2025: 88.1% | 231 | $12,759 | $25,000 | $74,253 | 53% | CCNE | Yes |
| Calvin UniversityGrand Rapids, Private | 92.1%2023: 86.8% · 2024: 93.8% · 2025: 95.7% | 203 | $21,122 | $19,500 | $76,617 | 75% | CCNE | No |
| Grand Valley State UniversityAllendale, Public | 91.1%2023: 92.6% · 2024: 94.3% · 2025: 86.5% | 719 | $16,495 | $23,250 | $77,487 | 66% | CCNE | No |
| University of Michigan-FlintFlint, Public | 90.5%2023: 89.3% · 2024: 92.4% · 2025: 89.7% | 346 | $8,320 | $20,515 | $83,289 | 42% | CCNE | Yes |
| Baker CollegeOwosso, Private | 90.2%2023: 90.5% · 2024: 89.8% · 2025: 90.4% | 439 | $10,115 | $34,392 | $77,927 | 41% | CCNE | Partly |
| Cornerstone UniversityGrand Rapids, Private | 89.7%2024: 87.5% · 2025: 90.5% | 29 | $18,028 | – | – | 62% | CCNE | No |
| Oakland UniversityRochester Hills, Public | 87.9%2023: 89.2% · 2024: 92.9% · 2025: 81.5% | 898 | $11,815 | $19,981 | $80,678 | 58% | CCNE | Partly |
| Michigan State UniversityEast Lansing, Public | 87.6%2023: 84.6% · 2024: 91.0% · 2025: 87.7% | 534 | $21,322 | $22,768 | $80,040 | 81% | CCNE | No |
| Siena Heights University | 87.5%2023: 91.7% · 2024: 87.5% · 2025: 81.2% | 56 | – | – | – | – | – | – |
| Madonna UniversityLivonia, Private | 87.3%2023: 82.8% · 2024: 93.3% · 2025: 87.2% | 463 | $14,792 | $20,125 | $80,574 | 56% | CCNE | Partly |
| Davenport UniversityGrand Rapids, Private | 87.2%2023: 85.0% · 2024: 89.1% · 2025: 88.0% | 398 | $17,623 | $29,750 | $75,152 | 55% | CCNE | Partly |
| Concordia University Ann ArborAnn Arbor, Private | 86.5%2023: 88.6% · 2024: 100.0% · 2025: 73.9% | 74 | $29,819 | $25,000 | $78,358 | 48% | CCNE | No |
| Western Michigan UniversityKalamazoo, Public | 85.2%2023: 84.7% · 2024: 90.4% · 2025: 79.7% | 237 | $13,902 | $27,000 | $78,518 | 58% | CCNE | No |
| Spring Arbor UniversitySpring Arbor, Private | 85.0%2023: 95.5% · 2024: 93.3% · 2025: 69.6% | 60 | $19,227 | $25,000 | $80,233 | 63% | CCNE | Partly |
| Wayne State UniversityDetroit, Public | 84.1%2023: 81.5% · 2024: 92.1% · 2025: 78.4% | 522 | $11,212 | $23,750 | $81,683 | 59% | CCNE | No |
| University of Detroit MercyDetroit, Private | 83.7%2023: 84.9% · 2024: 85.7% · 2025: 79.7% | 516 | $13,469 | $25,000 | $81,652 | 70% | CCNE | No |
| Eastern Michigan UniversityYpsilanti, Public | 82.5%2023: 80.8% · 2024: 83.2% · 2025: 83.7% | 286 | $16,628 | $18,791 | $81,487 | 46% | CCNE | Partly |
| Lawrence Technological UniversitySouthfield, Private | 80.5%2023: 70.6% · 2024: 90.0% · 2025: 85.7% | 41 | $33,466 | – | $73,517 | 60% | CCNE | No |
| Rochester Christian UniversityRochester Hills, Private | 77.5%2023: 90.9% · 2024: 60.0% · 2025: 85.7% | 40 | $18,100 | $27,000 | $82,343 | 43% | CCNE | No |
| Alma CollegeAlma, Private | 76.9%2023: 81.5% · 2024: 66.7% · 2025: 80.0% | 52 | $24,918 | $27,000 | $78,495 | 65% | CCNE | No |
| Arizona College of Nursing-SouthfieldSouthfield, For-profit | 75.0%2024: 87.2% · 2025: 69.1% | 120 | $32,556 | $42,416 | $85,460 | – | – | No |
| Andrews UniversityBerrien Springs, Private | 74.5%2023: 58.3% · 2024: 87.5% · 2025: 73.7% | 47 | $29,164 | – | $79,082 | 71% | ACEN | Partly |
| Chamberlain University-MichiganTroy, For-profit | 71.2%2023: 69.1% · 2024: 73.6% · 2025: 71.1% | 518 | – | $21,656 | $89,974 | – | – | No |
Pass rates: Michigan board of nursing, calendar. Net price is the College Scorecard's average yearly cost after grants and scholarships for first-time, full-time undergraduates who receive federal aid (in-state price at public schools), and graduation rate covers the whole school. Debt is the median federal loan balance of nursing graduates who borrowed, and pay is the median earnings of graduates who are working one year after finishing (2024 dollars). Accreditation is checked against the ACEN and CCNE directories; a dash means we could not match the program to a listing, which is not the same as being unaccredited, so check with the school. “Partly” under online option means some, but not all, of the school's programs at this level can be finished fully online, such as an RN-to-BSN track. A dash means the figure is not published, often because too few graduates received federal aid.
Programs with fewer than 20 test-takers
With so few graduates testing, one or two results can move a program's pass rate by many points, so we show these programs but do not rank them.
| Program | First-time NCLEX-RN pass rate | Test-takers |
|---|---|---|
| Finlandia University | 87.5%2023: 83.3% · 2024: 100.0% | 8 |
| Michigan Technological UniversityHoughton, Public | 60.0%2024: 75.0% · 2025: 50.0% | 10 |
| South University | 33.3%2024: 0.0% · 2025: 50.0% | 3 |
Other Michigan schools that award nursing bachelor's degrees
These schools reported nursing graduates to the federal government but do not appear on the board's NCLEX list for this program type. Some offer only an RN-to-BSN completion program for nurses who already hold a license; others are new, or the board lists them under another school.
| School | City | Graduates a year | Net price a year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Central Michigan University | Mount Pleasant | 8 | $17,201 |
How to read this page
Michigan lists 31 BSN programs on its board of nursing's published NCLEX results (13 public, 13 private nonprofit and 2for-profit among the 28 we could match to a federal school record). Graduates of a bachelor's degree in nursing program take the NCLEX-RN; programs typically take about 4 years.
Pass rates cover calendar. Boards define a reporting year differently, so compare programs within a state rather than across states. We have not combined these figures into an overall score yet: the full formula on how we rank programs needs every state's data, so for now programs are ordered by pass rate alone. All sources are listed on data sources.
See Michigan's NCLEX pass rates by program type. See what it takes to get a nursing license in Michigan.