2025 Best Nursing Bachelor's Degree Schools in Arkansas

If you pursue a bachelor's degree in nursing, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #2 most popular program in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

College Factual reviewed 14 schools in Arkansas to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of nursing. Combined, these schools handed out 1,204 bachelor's degrees in nursing to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Bachelor's Degree

Your choice of nursing for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we consider a college's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Early-Career Salaries

Average early-career salary of those graduating with their bachelor's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your bachelor's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to nursing students as compared to other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other nursing students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How much debt nursing students go into to obtain their bachelor's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized nursing related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for nursing students working on their bachelor's degree.

More Ways to Rank Nursing Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Nursing Bachelor's Degree Schools in Arkansas list, to help you choose the best school for you.

To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Nursing in Arkansas

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in nursing.

10 Top Arkansas Schools for a Bachelor's in Nursing

1

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences
Little Rock, AR

101 Annual Graduates

$67,337 Median Starting Salary

$6,250 Median Student Debt

University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences is a great choice for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in nursing. UAMS is a small public university located in the midsize city of Little Rock.

After graduation, nursing bachelor's recipients generally earn an average of $67,337 in their early careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

2

University of Arkansas
Fayetteville, AR

291 Annual Graduates

$72,043 Median Starting Salary

$25,819 Median Student Debt

University of Arkansas is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in nursing. UARK is a very large public university located in the small city of Fayetteville.

Those nursing students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Arkansas receive $2,202 more than the average nursing grad.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from University of Arkansas

3

Arkansas State University - Main Campus
Jonesboro, AR

197 Annual Graduates

$73,423 Median Starting Salary

Arkansas State University - Main Campus is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in nursing. Located in the small city of Jonesboro, A-State is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Bachelor's recipients from the nursing program at Arkansas State University - Main Campus get $3,582 more than the average graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Arkansas State University - Main Campus

4

Harding University
Searcy, AR

48 Annual Graduates

$69,743 Median Starting Salary

$30,277 Median Student Debt

It's difficult to beat Harding University if you want to pursue a bachelor's degree in nursing. Harding is a small private not-for-profit university located in the distant town of Searcy.

Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the nursing program make about $69,743 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Harding University

5

University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Little Rock, AR

153 Annual Graduates

$78,898 Median Starting Salary

Located in the midsize city of Little Rock, UA Little Rock is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.

Those nursing students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Arkansas at Little Rock make $9,057 more than the average nursing student.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from University of Arkansas at Little Rock

6

University of Central Arkansas
Conway, AR

106 Annual Graduates

$70,636 Median Starting Salary

$20,611 Median Student Debt

Located in the city of Conway, UCA is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program report average early career wages of $70,636.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from University of Central Arkansas

7

Arkansas Tech University
Russellville, AR

80 Annual Graduates

$68,794 Median Starting Salary

Located in the remote town of Russellville, ATU is a public university with a medium-sized student population.

After graduating, nursing bachelor's recipients generally make about $68,794 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Arkansas Tech University

8

John Brown University
Siloam Springs, AR

22 Annual Graduates

$67,343 Median Starting Salary

Located in the town of Siloam Springs, JBU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Bachelor's graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program make an average of $67,343 in the first couple years of working.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from John Brown University

9

University of Arkansas - Fort Smith
Fort Smith, AR

67 Annual Graduates

$69,618 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Fort Smith, UAFS is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program state that they receive average early career earnings of $69,618.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from University of Arkansas - Fort Smith

10

Southern Arkansas University Main Campus
Magnolia, AR

32 Annual Graduates

$67,213 Median Starting Salary

Located in the town of Magnolia, Southern Arkansas University Main Campus is a public university with a medium-sized student population.

Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the nursing program report average early career income of $67,213.

More information about a bachelor’s in nursing from Southern Arkansas University Main Campus

Best Nursing Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Nursing Schools in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	225	9,015
Georgia	224	3,954
Tennessee	220	3,180
North Carolina	213	3,488
Virginia	213	3,096
South Carolina	195	1,605
Kentucky	187	2,530
Alabama	184	2,607
Louisiana	171	1,963
Mississippi	169	1,307
West Virginia	147	774

View All Rankings >

Rankings in Majors Related to Nursing

Nursing is one of 34 different types of Health Professions programs to choose from.

Nursing Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Registered Nursing	1,195
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing	9

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Clinical/Medical Laboratory Science	325
Communication Sciences	188
Public Health	158
Allied Health Professions	133
Health Sciences & Services	69
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	56
Mental & Social Health Services	55
Dental Support Services	49
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	47
Other Health Professions	22

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Aleksahgabrielle. More about our data sources and methodologies.