Missouri Online and Campus-Based Nursing Schools and Resources

Become a Nurse and Boost Your Career Potential

It’s simple: get a degree from one of the accredited nursing schools below, pass your NCLEX for your licensure, then land a full-time nursing job in an energetic Missouri hospital, trauma center, or rural community clinic. The nursing school you ultimately choose to attend and where could play a part in sculpting your pathway to a career, but it is NOT the end-all be-all of your future. What matters is what comes while you set out on your nursing career, the resources you have at your disposal and all the information on the various career pathways open to you in nursing within the state of Missouri.

The schools listed below are accredited by the NLNAC and/or the CCNE—the two chief accreditation bodies for campus-based nursing schools. However, keep in mind that some of the schools have also developed very good online degree programs for nursing students in amenable degree areas. Or you could find a blended nursing program—one that delivers studies via distance AND campus-based study.

If you’re shopping for Practical Nurse or Associates degrees in Nursing stick to the state’s community colleges; for BSN and MSN degrees, the university nursing schools; and for post-grad courses and Doctoral degrees in Nursing, the major medical universities like University of Missouri.

Nursing Opps for New Missouri Nursing Grads

Like other places around the country, the largest population of RNs works in the major medical centers and hospitals in Missouri’s larger cities. The real sufferers of the nursing shortage are rural medical centers, community health clinics and remote nursing homes and long-term care facilities. Rural nursing is a major healthcare concern in Missouri. It’s such a challenge to overcome that the University of Missouri-Kansas City has added a BSN specialty: RNI or Rural Nurse Initiative for BSN candidates. Up to now there has been little preparation for undergrad nursing students eager to pursue rural community health.

This RNI program at UMKC is just one of the ways in which nursing schools are taking innovative baby steps to help build solutions to the nursing shortage/crisis. Greasing the pathways to various nursing specialties is an effective solution. So too are schools that have added Accelerated BSN programs that fast-track students with previous non-nursing degrees.

Resources

The Missouri Board of Nursing should be your go-to resource for a wide array of official information related to the scope of practice in Missouri. Information you’ll find includes:

  • Advanced Practice Nursing guidelines, licensure, and scope of practice
  • RN and LPN licensure and NCLEX
  • License verification and renewal
  • Patient Safety Issues for MO Nurses
  • Approved schools of nursing in Missouri
  • and much more

Missouri Financial Incentives for Student Nurses

Scholarships and grants are commonplace financial tools any smart student looks for. Less well known are the nurse student loan forgiveness and loan repayment programs that offer money in exchange for work service.

The Health Professional Loan Repayment Program is administered through the State of Missouri Department of Health and Senior Services. This loan for work deal is open to qualified RNs and Advanced Nurse Practitioners as well as handful of other healthcare professionals. To be eligible you must agree to work in a designated high-need area in the state for at least 2 years.

Look for other sources of nurse loan repayment through healthcare services employers, hospitals and medical centers, tuition reimbursement programs from your employer, nursing associations and organizations, etc.

List of Accredited Campus-Based Nursing Schools in Missouri

  • Avila University
  • Central Methodist University
  • Cox College
  • Envision Hospital Corporation/St. Alexius Hospital
  • Goldfarb School of Nursing at Barnes-Jewish College
  • Graceland University
  • Hannibal-LaGrange College
  • Lester L. Cox College of Nursing and Health Sciences
  • Lincoln University
  • Maryville University-St. Louis
  • Metropolitan Community College-Penn Valley
  • Missouri Southern State University-Joplin
  • Missouri State University-Springfield
  • Missouri State University-West Plains
  • Missouri Western State University
  • Park University
  • Research College of Nursing
  • Saint Charles Community College
  • Saint Louis University
  • Saint Luke’s College of Nursing
  • Southeast Missouri Hospital
  • Southeast Missouri State University
  • Southwest Baptist University
  • St. Louis Community College
  • Three Rivers Community College
  • Truman State University
  • University of Central Missouri
  • University of Missouri-Columbia
  • University of Missouri-Kansas City
  • University of Missouri-St. Louis
  • Webster University
  • William Jewell College

Explore Your Nursing Degree Options Today!