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RN to BSN Program

Program Mission

The mission of the Dr. F.M. Canseco School of Nursing is to prepare professional nurses to improve the well-being of complex and diverse populations.

Program Description

The RN/BSN Program is an 18-month online program designed for the working RN who has completed all pre-requisites (core courses) for the BSN program and is ready to concentrate on content specific to professional registered nursing.  

How the Program Works

Students must hold an unrestricted license to practice as a registered nurse in Texas. Students must complete 52 hours of core curriculum which are pre-requisites to entering the RN/BSN nursing program.  Students are encouraged to have their transcripts evaluated for credit hours remaining to be fulfilled prior to registering for classes.  Registered nurses are granted 31 hours of undergraduate transfer credit upon completion of NURN 3590. Students apply to the RN/BSN program by Fall of the year preceding their enrollment in the SPRING semester.

Program Faculty

Faculty of the Canseco School of Nursing hold a minimum of a master’s degree in nursing, many are also licensed as advanced practice nurses. Several hold or are earning their doctorate in nursing or a related field. All of our faculty have extensive practice experience in a variety of settings. Several of our nursing faculty earned their BSN in a similar program and have first-hand experience in the needs of the working professional.  Clinical courses require an approved preceptor at the site the student intends to complete their clinical hours.

Program Curriculum

The RN/BSN program of study begins in the Spring semester with a full semester credit hour load of 11 credit hours of instruction delivered online, asynchronously. Summer semester has one 5 credit course. The Fall semester includes 10 credit hours with 2 clinical courses. The final Spring semester includes 11 credit hours with 1 clinical course. Students graduate with a BSN in the Spring during the May commencement ceremonies.

Program Student Costs

The Program’s online delivery helps enable its timely completion at a cost to the student of approximately $10,000 for the sequence of 10 NURN courses.  The cost does not include course materials and is subject to change.

Admission Information/Process

Interested RNs are invited to email rn-bsnprogram@tamiu.edu or call and/or visit with their faculty advisors: Ms. Natalie Burkhalter 956-326-2579 or Ms. Belva Gonzalez 956-326-2452.

Information about the admission process is available here.

Brief History of the Dr. F. M.
Canseco School of Nursing

The RN to BSN program was first initiated by the Canseco School of Nursing, graduating its first 32 students in Spring 1996. In Spring 2001 the first group of 32 basic BSN students graduated from our school of nursing with an impressive 86% pass rate on the NCLEX examination. In Fall of 2004 the first 14 students were admitted to the MSN program. Our basic BSN and MSN programs are in high demand and we expect the same enthusiasm for our newly developed online RN to BSN program.

Accreditation

The BSN program has full accreditation from the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners and the NLNAC (3343 Peachtree Rd. NE, Suite 850, Atlanta, Georgia 30326 phone: (404) 975-5000).

Career Opportunities Upon
Program Completion

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics lists Registered Nursing as one of the fastest growing fields with increasing demand in the coming years. The demand for greater numbers of registered nurses is coupled with a need for nurses with an advanced level of education to care for an increasingly complex patient population. The initiative to increase the number of nurses educated at the BSN level has created many innovative programs designed to assist registered nurses to obtain education at the bachelor’s level in nursing while still filling vital nursing roles in their communities.

Nurses work in a variety of settings and with diverse patient populations. These include hospitals, out-patient facilities, home health agencies, schools, industry, wellness programs, insurance companies, and churches. The increase in the aging population will undoubtedly create new opportunities for the valuable knowledge embodied in professional nursing education. A list of agencies in this region employing BSN prepared registered nurses is available here.

A BSN (in nursing) is a usual pre-requisite to master’s degree programs in nursing.

Other Canseco School of Nursing Programs

The Canseco School of Nursing offers a basic BSN curriculum for students who are not registered nurses. This course of study fulfills the requirements of the Texas Board of Nurse Examiners to sit for the National Council Licensure Examination (NCLEX-RN) given to graduates of approved programs prior to practicing as a registered nurse in Texas. In addition to our RN to BSN program for RNs with either an associate’s degree or a diploma from an approved school of nursing, we offer a master’s of science in nursing (MSN). Currently our MSN program focuses on preparing advanced practice family nurse practitioner specialists.