When did nursing move into universities and start offering bachelor’s and graduate degrees?
Executive summary
Nursing education moved from hospital-based apprenticeship and diploma programs into colleges and universities in waves over the 20th century; today hundreds of universities offer Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and graduate nursing degrees such as MSN, DNP, and PhD, with 267,889 students enrolled in BSN programs at 869 institutions [1]. Current reporting shows universities continue to expand and open new BSN and graduate nursing programs through 2025, reflecting a long-term trend of academic professionalization [2] [3].
1. The long arc: from hospital training to university degrees
Historically, nursing education began largely in hospital-based diploma schools; the 20th century saw a sustained shift toward colleges and universities offering BSN and graduate-level degrees. Contemporary sources describe that universities now routinely offer four‑year undergraduate BSN programs and advanced degrees (MSN, DNP, PhD) and that major research universities—including Columbia, UCLA, University of Pittsburgh, University of Maryland, George Washington, and Ohio State—operate schools or colleges of nursing with graduate programs [4] [5] [6] [7] [8] [9].
2. Scale today: how many Bachelors and where students are enrolled
National-level reporting cited here gives concrete scale: 267,889 students were enrolled in BSN programs at 869 colleges and universities in the U.S. according to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing as cited in Nurse.com [1]. That number underscores that BSN programs are now firmly embedded across higher education, not limited to a handful of universities [1].
3. Advanced degrees are standard in universities now
Graduate nursing degrees—Master of Science in Nursing (MSN), Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP), and PhD—are central parts of university nursing schools’ offerings, used to train advanced practice nurses, nurse leaders, educators, and researchers. Reporting emphasizes graduate programs’ roles in producing nurse practitioners, clinical specialists, nurse anesthetists, and educators, and shows universities advertising and expanding these programs [1] [8] [9].
4. Universities are still adding and reshaping programs in 2025
Recent coverage and institutional announcements show the trend continues: new BSN programs launched or expanded in 2025 (for example Asbury University opening a BSN in fall 2025; multiple colleges launching lines or partnerships) and many institutions are creating accelerated RN-to-BSN or graduate pathways to respond to workforce needs [2] [3]. These contemporary openings are evidence that the migration into academia was not a single historic event but an ongoing institutional evolution [2] [3].
5. Policy and financial context affecting university nursing programs
Policy changes affecting how nursing is classified at the federal level have immediate consequences for students in university programs. A November 2025 change in U.S. Department of Education policy removed nursing from the list of recognized “professional degree” programs, with implications for graduate loan access and financial aid for students in university-based graduate nursing programs—an issue raised by Nurse.com and summarized in national press [1] [10]. That reporting links the academic-professional status of nursing degrees directly to student financing and institutional planning [1] [10].
6. What the sources do not detail about the timing
Available sources do not provide a precise year or single moment when nursing "moved into universities" universally; instead they document the mature state of university-based BSN and graduate programs today and ongoing expansions in 2025 [1] [2]. If you seek an exact historical timeline (for example, first university BSN program year-by-year), those specifics are not found in the current reporting supplied here (not found in current reporting).
7. Competing perspectives and implicit agendas
Institutional pages (UCLA, Columbia, Pitt, GW, Maryland, Ohio State) present university nursing as high-status, research-driven, and essential to workforce development—an agenda that supports program expansion and fundraising [5] [4] [6] [8] [7] [9]. Trade reporting and advocacy outlets emphasize workforce shortages and the need for more university pathways, while policy coverage highlights the financial vulnerability of students when federal classifications change [2] [3] [1] [10]. Readers should weigh promotional university messaging against policy critiques about access and financing [5] [1] [10].
If you want, I can pull together a concise timeline of notable milestones—using additional historical sources beyond this set—or summarize how many U.S. universities grant DNP and PhD degrees specifically, but those specifics are not available in the documents you provided.