How much does a Purdue Global nursing degree cost?
Between roughly $16,700 and $33,400 for the RN-to-BSN, and the range is not about tuition. The published rate is $371 per quarter credit and it is the same for everyone. What moves the total is how many of the degree's 180 quarter credit hours you still have to buy once prior learning is assessed.
The published rates
Purdue Global publishes its nursing rates with an effective date, currently 1 July 2026, and reserves the right to change them on thirty days' notice.
- RN-to-BSN: $371 per quarter credit hour
- MSN: $420 per quarter credit hour
- ExcelTrack MSN: $3,200 per ten-week term, regardless of how much you clear inside it
One quiet saving worth counting: the instructional-materials fee is waived for undergraduates, so books are covered rather than billed on top. Over a full degree that is not trivial.
Why a rate is not a price
The bachelor's requires a minimum of 180 quarter credit hours. An RN arriving with an associate degree and a decade of practice will be granted a large share of those before paying for anything. Someone arriving with less will not.
So the same rate produces very different bills:
- 135 credits granted leaves 45 to buy, about $16,700
- 90 credits granted leaves 90 to buy, about $33,400
That is a gap of roughly $16,700 on identical tuition, settled entirely by an assessment. No scholarship you will be offered is worth anything close, which is why the credit assessment matters more than the negotiation.
What the free trial does to the number
Nothing. If you are a first-time undergraduate the first three weeks cost you nothing, but continue past week three and the whole term becomes payable, trial weeks included. It is a free look at the school, not a discount on it.
Graduate and returning students do not get the trial at all, so for them the arithmetic starts on day one.
Costs people forget
- Extra terms. Any interruption adds a term of tuition rather than pausing the clock.
- Licensure, background checks and compliance requirements, which sit outside tuition.
- On ExcelTrack, terms where you clear little. The fee is the same whether you finish one competency or eight.
The one thing to do before accepting a quote
Get the credit count in writing. A per-credit rate multiplied by an unknown is not a price, and anyone quoting you a total before assessing your transcript is estimating.
Is Purdue Global cheaper than Capella or Walden?
It depends almost entirely on your transfer credit, because Purdue Global's prior-learning policy is unusually generous at undergraduate level and does nothing for graduate candidates.
Are books included?
For undergraduates the instructional-materials fee is waived, so books are covered by tuition.
Can the rate change while I am studying?
Yes. Purdue Global publishes rates with an effective date and reserves the right to change them on thirty days' notice.