This University Is Graduating Over 4,100 Nurse Students in a Single Year
- Grand Canyon University expects to graduate 4,116 undergraduate nursing students across its BSN, RN to BSN, and accelerated BSN programs during the 2025-26 academic year, making it among the largest single-year nursing graduating classes announced this year.
- GCU's Arizona nursing sites posted a 94.45% first-time NCLEX-RN pass rate in 2025, significantly outpacing the national average of 86.71%, signaling that the school's rapid growth has not come at the expense of academic quality.
- The university has expanded to 11 accelerated BSN sites across eight states and introduced a new Pre-Nursing Associate degree, broadening access as the U.S. faces a projected shortage of nearly 80,000 registered nurses.
Image source: GCU
Grand Canyon University announced it will graduate 4,116 undergraduate nursing students during the 2025-26 academic year, making it among the largest single-year nursing graduating classes announced this year. The graduates span GCU's Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN), RN to BSN, and accelerated BSN programs across three terms: Summer 2025, Fall 2025, and Spring 2026.
The milestone comes as the United States continues to grapple with a deepening nursing shortage. According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing (AACN), nursing schools turned away 65,766 qualified applicants from baccalaureate and graduate programs in 2023 alone, largely due to faculty shortages, limited clinical sites, and budget constraints.
With the Bureau of Labor Statistics projecting 193,100 openings for registered nurses each year through 2032, programs like GCU's are positioned as a critical pipeline for the healthcare workforce.
High Pass Rates Signal Quality Amid Rapid Growth
One of the most notable aspects of GCU's nursing expansion is that its growth has not come at the expense of academic outcomes. GCU's Arizona nursing sites posted a 94.45% first-time NCLEX-RN pass rate in 2025, well above the national average of 86.71% and the Arizona state average of 89.92%.
"Graduating more than 4,100 nursing students in a single year is a reflection of both our capacity and our commitment to quality," said Dr. Lisa Smith, Dean of GCU's College of Nursing and Healthcare Professions.
The university's programs use a hybrid model that combines online coursework with in-person skills labs and simulation, allowing students to gain hands-on clinical experience while maintaining scheduling flexibility. GCU, a private Christian university founded in 1949 in Phoenix, Arizona, now offers more than 380 programs, emphases, and certificates.
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11 New Sites Across 8 States Broaden Access
To meet growing demand, GCU has opened 11 Accelerated BSN (ABSN) sites across eight states: Arizona, Colorado, Idaho, Nevada, Utah, Florida, Missouri, and New Mexico. The accelerated program allows students to complete their BSN in as little as 16 months after secondary admission.
The university has also introduced a new Pre-Nursing Associate degree with discounted tuition and federal financial aid eligibility, creating a more affordable on-ramp for students who may not be ready to commit to a full four-year program immediately.
These expansions are significant given the bottleneck in nursing education. The AACN reported 1,977 full-time faculty vacancies across 922 nursing schools in 2023, with a national vacancy rate of 7.8%. The faculty shortage is one of the primary reasons tens of thousands of qualified applicants are turned away each year.
Meanwhile, the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) projects a shortage of 78,610 full-time registered nurses, with the gap expected to persist into the next decade. States like Washington, Georgia, and California are projected to face the steepest shortfalls.
What Nurses Need to Know
A graduating class of this size from a single institution is a meaningful development for the nursing workforce. For working nurses, it signals that relief may be on the way for chronically understaffed units, though the distribution of new graduates across states and specialties will determine how quickly that impact is felt.
GCU's above-average NCLEX pass rates are worth noting. As nursing programs expand rapidly to address the shortage, quality concerns have surfaced at some institutions. GCU's 94.45% pass rate suggests its graduates are entering the workforce well-prepared, which matters for patient safety and for the nurses who will work alongside them.
The expansion of ABSN sites into eight states also means more geographic options for aspiring nurses, particularly in underserved areas. For nurses considering career changes or second degrees, GCU's hybrid model and new Pre-Nursing Associate pathway represent additional flexibility in an education landscape that has historically been difficult to navigate.
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