Best DNP Programs

Minnesota

Best DNP Programs In Minnesota 2026

12 institutions in Minnesota hold CCNE accreditation for the Doctor of Nursing Practice. Published in-state graduate tuition among them starts at $8,388 a year, at Winona State University.
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Key Takeaways

  1. 1

    Minnesota is a small field. Only 6 schools here carry enough published figures to be scored, so a position says how one compares to its in-state neighbors and nothing about how it compares nationally.

  2. 2

    In-state rates vary enormously here. Published annual in-state graduate tuition among the 6 Minnesota institutions that report one runs from $8,388 to $54,540, a 7-fold spread inside one state and one reporting year.

  3. 3

    Mostly private institutions. 5 of the 6 institutions with federal figures are private, so most published rates here do not turn on residency, and private sticker prices are discounted more heavily than public ones.

  4. 4

    Distance study is the norm here. 4 of the 6 carry the federal distance-education flag, which covers coursework and never the supervised practice hours.

How This Ranking Is Scored

Three published figures, weighted. Scores are relative to the 6 institutions on this page and to nothing else.

  1. 50%

    Published in-state graduate tuition

    Institution-level. Published annual graduate tuition, not a DNP per-credit rate and not net of aid.

  2. 35%

    Established program

    Program-level. DNP conferrals in this CIP and award level in the reporting year, saturating at 25. Above that a program scores full marks and gains nothing further for size.

  3. 15%

    Institution-wide undergraduate completion

    Institution-level and undergraduate. The IPEDS 150%-of-normal-time rate for first-time, full-time bachelor's students.

Nothing is imputed. A program that does not publish a figure is scored on the ones it does publish, with the remaining weights renormalized; below 2 published figures it is listed without a position rather than ranked on a single number. Accreditation is a condition of appearing at all, not a factor that earns points. What the rubric cannot see.

Accredited Schools, Ranked

Ordered on published in-state tuition, annual DNP conferrals and institution-wide undergraduate completion, weighted for a state page so cost leads. Scores are relative to the 6 institutions on this page and not to the country, the same program carries a different number on the national list. How this is built.

# Program In-state tuition DNP awards UG completion Score of 100
1 of 6 Walden University Minneapolis, MN · Private for-profit · offered online $10,542 304 Not published 97.3
2 of 6 Winona State University Winona, MN · Public · offered online $8,388 19 57% 91.2
3 of 6 Capella University Minneapolis, MN · Private for-profit · offered online $14,400 221 20% 78.5
4 of 6 The College of Saint Scholastica Duluth, MN · Private nonprofit $40,720 40 71% 63.4
5 of 6 Augsburg University Minneapolis, MN · Private nonprofit $44,652 12 52% 44.7
6 of 6 College of Saint Benedict Saint Joseph, MN · Private nonprofit · offered online $54,540 1 77% 15

The Best 6 DNP Programs In Minnesota, Ranked

Every ranked institution in Minnesota, with what the federal record publishes for it and how its score was composed.

Ranked 1 of 6

Walden University

Minneapolis, MN

97.3 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Private for-profit
  • Doctorate (research)
  • Offered online

Walden is the largest DNP program in the country and is explicit about the arithmetic that catches people out. Completion needs 1,000 post-BSN practicum hours with at least 400 at doctoral level, and a student admitted with fewer than 600 documented hours takes up to eight extra credits to close the gap, and one credit carries 80 practicum hours. Students already holding APRN licensure receive prior credit and complete at least 500. Coursework and the project run online on your own schedule, but the practicum happens in a physical healthcare setting, and the university runs a dedicated field office to help students find one. It also states what most online programs leave out: practicum brings travel, onboarding fees, per-quarter fees and liability insurance.

In-State Tuition
$10,542
Out-Of-State
$10,542
DNP Awards
304

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 95.3
  • Established program 100

Visit Walden University →

Ranked 2 of 6

Winona State University

Winona, MN

91.2 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Public
  • Doctorate (professional)
  • Offered online

5 DNP tracks at this institution, Adult health, Critical care, Family nurse practitioner, Nursing administration, Psychiatric-mental health NP. Ranked once, on the largest.

Winona State scopes its post-master’s doctorate narrowly: your master’s has to be in nursing with a focus in administration or leadership. A clinical practitioner master’s is not the intended input here, which makes this a leadership doctorate in substance as well as in name. A year of clinical nursing experience in a master’s-level role is recommended on top of that. The provision worth knowing before you commit is that you can take up to 12 credits as a non-degree student and transfer them in once you are accepted. That lets you test the program and the workload against your life before carrying a full application, which very few schools allow.

In-State Tuition
$8,388
Out-Of-State
$15,120
DNP Awards
19
UG Completion
57%

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 100
  • Established program 89.8
  • Institution-wide undergraduate completion 64.9

Visit Winona State University →

Ranked 3 of 6

Capella University

Minneapolis, MN

78.5 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Private for-profit
  • Doctorate (research)
  • Offered online

Capella runs its DNP in two different measurement systems, and which one you are in changes how you plan. The standard route counts quarter credits, at least 52 of them, across 11 quarters, which the university puts at two years and nine months. The self-paced route counts program points instead, at least 26, and how fast you finish depends on how fast you complete rather than on a semester calendar. Both carry the same minimum of 1,000 practicum hours, so the flexibility is in the coursework rather than in the clinical requirement. You need an unrestricted RN license, or to be within six months of holding one, before you start.

In-State Tuition
$14,400
Out-Of-State
$14,400
DNP Awards
221
UG Completion
20%

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 87
  • Established program 100
  • Institution-wide undergraduate completion 0

Visit Capella University →

Ranked 4 of 6

The College of Saint Scholastica

Duluth, MN

63.4 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Private nonprofit
  • Doctorate (professional)

St Scholastica quantifies the campus commitment down to days: one to three each semester for lab and simulation, with everything else online or hybrid. That is a number you can hold against a roster, which minimal on-campus requirements on its own is not. Bachelor’s entry runs three years full-time and takes people holding a bachelor of science, a bachelor of arts or a nursing bachelor’s, so a non-nursing degree is not automatically a barrier. Three concentrations run: adult-gerontology acute care, family practice, and psychiatric mental health. The last of those is offered only at the Duluth campus, so if psychiatric practice is your aim, the location decision is already made for you.

In-State Tuition
$40,720
Out-Of-State
$40,720
DNP Awards
40
UG Completion
71%

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 29.9
  • Established program 100
  • Institution-wide undergraduate completion 89.5

Visit The College of Saint Scholastica →

Ranked 5 of 6

Augsburg University

Minneapolis, MN

44.7 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Private nonprofit
  • Doctorate (professional)

Augsburg runs a 33-credit transcultural nursing doctorate over two to three years, with full-time and part-time options and a single fall start. The focus is stated rather than implied: holistic practice modalities, immersion experiences and independent practicums, which is a different emphasis from the systems-leadership framing most programs use. The bachelor’s track is built by exemption, completing every master’s course except four specifically named ones, so what you take is defined against an existing degree rather than assembled fresh. For a private university of about 3,200 students it confers a substantial number of nursing doctorates a year, which places it in the upper third nationally for output against size.

In-State Tuition
$44,652
Out-Of-State
$44,652
DNP Awards
12
UG Completion
52%

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 21.4
  • Established program 73
  • Institution-wide undergraduate completion 56.1

Visit Augsburg University →

Ranked 6 of 6

College of Saint Benedict

Saint Joseph, MN

15 of 100
  • CCNE-accredited
  • Private nonprofit
  • Doctorate (professional)
  • Offered online

Saint Benedict’s doctorate is new. The program launched in 2021 and produced its first graduate in 2023, so you would be joining something still finding its shape rather than a long-settled sequence. There are two tracks, leadership and family nurse practitioner, and the first cohort split heavily toward the practitioner side. Clinical rotations in that first group were placed with working hospital executives and directors of advanced practice, which is the sort of access a small program can arrange and a large one often cannot. The college confers very few nursing doctorates a year. The program is filed federally as a distance program.

In-State Tuition
$54,540
Out-Of-State
$54,540
DNP Awards
1
UG Completion
77%

Scored on

  • Published in-state graduate tuition 0
  • Established program 0
  • Institution-wide undergraduate completion 100

Visit College of Saint Benedict →

Also Accredited In Minnesota

These programs hold current CCNE accreditation. They file their DNP conferrals under a specialty classification rather than under Nursing Practice, so the federal tuition and conferral figures used above are not available for them and they are not scored.

  • College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University CCNE-accredited DNP

    Two colleges run this doctorate in partnership, and they publish the leadership track at 59 credits with practicum experiences built in and the option of executive leadership certification alongside it. A family nurse practitioner track runs beside it, and its graduates are eligible to sit the national certification exam for family practice and to license as a nurse practitioner in Minnesota. Delivery is hybrid rather than fully online, which the schools describe as the format meant to fit around work. Admission requires current unencumbered Minnesota RN licensure, so an out-of-state nurse licenses first, and the colleges prefer at least two years of experience as a registered nurse.

  • Metropolitan State University CCNE-accredited DNP

    Metro State runs a family nurse practitioner doctorate on two entries and publishes both sizes: 75 credits over four years from a bachelor's, 67 credits over three years from an entry-level master's. Both are full-time, and the school says plainly that no part-time option exists, which rules it out for a nurse who cannot cut back at work. The practicum hours are published course by course rather than as one total, rising from 175 in the first primary care course to 225 in the fifth, and pass 1,000 across the program. Admission wants a year of RN work at 0.6 FTE or higher by the start date. Fall applications close July 15, reviewed on a rolling basis.

  • Minnesota State University Mankato CCNE-accredited DNP

    Mankato does something with prior learning that is worth real money. The program is 36 credits, but every APRN admitted is awarded nine tuition-free credits for holding and maintaining current national certification, which drops the coursework you actually pay for to 27. Delivery is hybrid: online study with monthly virtual seminars, so the live commitment is once a month rather than weekly. Entry wants a graduate nursing degree from a CCNE, ACEN, COA or ACME accredited program and current RN licensure with eligibility to license in Minnesota. If your GPA is below 3.0, Mankato will still look at you, but it wants GRE scores sent to admissions first.

  • Rasmussen University CCNE-accredited DNP

    Rasmussen prices the doctorate in a way that reflects what you bring to it. Credits run 48 to 63 across 11 to 14 courses at $750 a credit, and the count flexes upward if you need more practicum hours to reach the post-baccalaureate requirement. So the school publishes two totals rather than one: about $39,245 for a full-time student transferring 450 clinical hours from a master's, finishing in as few as 21 months, and about $51,689 for someone who has to complete the most hours. That spread is the honest shape of the decision. Active duty, Guard, Reserve, retired military and veterans get a 10% tuition grant. The program became Title IV eligible on February 9, 2026.

  • St. John's University CCNE-accredited DNP

    This is the Minnesota Saint John's, in Collegeville, and its doctorate is the one it runs jointly with the College of Saint Benedict rather than a separate program. That is worth stating plainly because a search for the name returns a larger university in New York first. The partnership offers a leadership track of 59 credits and a family nurse practitioner track, taught hybrid so that some of the work happens in person. Graduates of the practitioner track sit the national family certification exam and license in Minnesota. Admission wants a current unencumbered Minnesota RN license and prefers two years of practice, and the colleges have taught nursing together for about fifty years.

  • University of Minnesota CCNE-accredited DNP

    Minnesota states its campus commitment as a number you can plan around: one week on campus per semester, with the rest asynchronous online. There are two plans, four semesters or six, so the same degree can be taken at two speeds. Credit ranges depend on where you start, roughly 35 to 45 with a master's and roughly 55 to 90 from a bachelor's, and the thousand clinical hours are counted inside those credits rather than added on top. One exclusion is worth reading before you apply: a generalist or nursing education master's does not qualify you for the post-master's route, which rules out a group of nurses who would reasonably assume it did.

Choosing A DNP Program In Minnesota

What studying in Minnesota changes. The questions that apply wherever you study are on the national ranking page.

What Winona State University charges depends on where you live

It is the one public institution in Minnesota publishing both rates, at $8,388 in state against $15,120 out of state, a difference of $6,732 a year. Residency is set by the state under its own rules rather than by where you sit to watch a lecture, so an out-of-state applicant should treat that gap as the first question rather than a footnote.

With 12 to read, cut on the track before you cut on the school

That is more institutions than anyone reads properly, and the cut that removes most of them is the population focus rather than the ranking. A university with a strong doctorate may not run the specialty you want, and a track can be closed to new applicants while the rest of the program keeps recruiting. Decide the specialty first, then read what is left. The table above orders what remains on published tuition, conferrals and completion.

The Minnesota board of nursing decides the license, not the diploma

No doctorate confers authority to practice or prescribe. That authority comes from an advanced practice license the state issues and the national certification behind it, which is why a DNP-prepared and a master's-prepared nurse practitioner on the same license prescribe the same things. What varies between states is the licensure requirement itself, so take it from the board rather than from a program page, and take it early: several programs want an active license in the state where your practicum will happen rather than wherever you hold one now, and licensure by endorsement runs to months. What the degree does and does not grant sets out the distinction.

The distance flag here records delivery, not your week

4 of the 6 measured institutions in Minnesota carry it. That flag records only that taught content can be delivered at a distance. It says nothing about campus days, and nothing about the supervised practice hours, which happen in a building with a preceptor present wherever you enroll. Ask for the number of on-campus days and the months they fall in, because that is what you hold against a roster. Online DNP programs ranks the distance-flagged field nationally.

The schools without figures are not the weaker ones

6 accredited institutions in Minnesota file conferrals under a specialty classification rather than under Nursing Practice, so the federal columns this page ranks on do not exist for them. They carry the same CCNE accreditation as everything in the table above. A missing figure here is a filing convention rather than a verdict, and reading it as one would put a real option out of your reach for no reason. The notes beside those names come from the schools' own pages.

Who Licenses You In Minnesota

Practice environment, as AANP classifies it
Full Practice
Licensing body
Minnesota Board of Nursing
Verify a license
Nursys, the national license verification system operated by the boards themselves

AANP places Minnesota in its full practice category, which it defines this way: state law lets nurse practitioners evaluate patients, diagnose, order and interpret tests, and initiate and manage treatments including prescribing medications and controlled substances, under the exclusive licensure authority of the state board of nursing.

A degree confers no prescriptive authority. It comes from a state advanced practice license and the national certification behind it, so a DNP-prepared and a master’s-prepared nurse practitioner holding the same license prescribe the same things.

So the thing to settle with the board is the licensure route itself: what it accepts as an equivalent program, which certification it recognizes for your track, and how long endorsement takes if you are licensed elsewhere. Endorsement runs to months, and it is the step people leave until after they have accepted a place.

Practice environment from AANP's Minnesota fact sheet, read 2026-09-08; AANP last revised the classification 05/2026. It is AANP's reading of state statute rather than a federal designation, and statutes move each legislative session, so confirm it with the board before you rely on it. Board details read from the NCSBN member directory on 2026-09-08. Licensure requirements change by legislative session, so treat anything you read here as a pointer to the board rather than a substitute for it.

What The Work Pays In Minnesota

BLS OEWS, May 2025. BLS classifies by occupation, not by credential: there is no DNP wage series, and every figure here covers everyone in the occupation regardless of which degree they hold.

OccupationMedian, MinnesotaEmployedRankNational median
Nurse practitioners29-1171$133,2607,78019 of 51$132,300
Nurse anesthetists29-1151$266,1902,13015 of 44$236,590
Registered nurses29-1141$101,51070,11012 of 51$97,550
Nursing Instructors and Teachers, Postsecondary25-1072$81,2801,34020 of 51$80,250

Nurse practitioners in Minnesota have a median of $133,260, which ranks 19 of the 51 jurisdictions the survey publishes a median for, across about 7,780 people in the state. That sits in the middle third of the jurisdictions the survey publishes a median for.

A median is the midpoint of what people in the occupation are paid, so half earn less and half earn more; it is not a starting salary and not an offer. Every row is one federal series, ranked against every jurisdiction that series covers. Nothing here is a job-board average. DNP salary sets out the national picture.

Shortage Areas, And The Debt Relief Attached To Them

HRSA designated primary-care Health Professional Shortage Areas, read 2026-09-08.

Designated areas
199
Of those, rural
140
Median score
14
Highest score
19

Most designated shortage in Minnesota is rural, 140 of 199 designations, but the remaining 59 sit in urban and suburban areas, so eligibility is not only a country question here. A designation is a statement about how many primary-care providers serve a defined area relative to its population. It describes supply, not hiring.

Priority varies between them: a median score of 14 against a highest of 19. Worth asking what a specific site scores rather than assuming the state figure applies to it.

Both federal loan repayment routes open to advanced practice nurses require working at an approved site inside a designated area, and the area’s score sets funding priority when applications outrun the money: Nurse Corps Loan Repayment Program and NHSC Loan Repayment Program. HPSA primary-care scores run 0-25; funding priority for loan repayment follows the score.

Whether a particular employer counts as an approved site is settled by the program, not by the designation, so check the site before you take the job rather than after. HRSA's shortage-area data portal maps the designations. Paying for a DNP covers the routes that do not depend on where you practice.

Studying From Outside Minnesota

4 of the 12 accredited doctorates in Minnesota carry the federal distance-education flag, which leaves most of the local field expecting you in the room and makes an out-of-state program a real comparison rather than a fallback. Either way it turns on one thing this site cannot answer for you.

Authority to enroll a distance student is set per institution and per state, and the federal flag this page counts records delivery rather than permission, so only the school can answer it. Ask two things before tuition enters the conversation: whether the program can enroll a resident of Minnesota this cycle, and whether it will place you for supervised clinical hours near where you live.

What The Figures On This Page Are

Tuition is the institution's published annual graduate rate. It is not a DNP per-credit price, it is not a total program cost, and it is not what anyone pays after aid. A DNP taken part-time over four years does not cost four times the annual figure, because most programs bill by the credit.

DNP awards are conferrals in the reporting year at that institution. The figure says a program is running and how much of it is running; it does not say the program is better than a smaller one, and the rubric stops rewarding volume above 25 conferrals for that reason.

Undergraduate completion is exactly that, the federal 150%-of-normal-time rate for first-time, full-time bachelor's students at the institution. It is the weakest input in the model and carries the smallest weight. No federal series reports DNP completion, so nothing on this site claims one.

Of the 6 institutions with federal figures here, 1 are at public institutions. In-state tuition at a public school is available only to residents; the out-of-state rate is frequently two to four times higher and is the figure an out-of-state applicant should be reading.

4 institutions here are flagged by the federal survey as offered at a distance. That flag records how the coursework is delivered. It does not mean the clinical hours are remote, and it does not mean a student never travels to campus.

Frequently Asked Questions

Answers specific to Minnesota. The degree-wide questions are answered on the guides.

How many DNP programs are there in Minnesota?

12, which is more than anyone reads properly. The cut that removes most of them is the specialty rather than the score: a strong institution may not run the track you want, and a track can be closed to new applicants while the rest of the school keeps recruiting.

How much does a DNP cost in Minnesota?

Published in-state rates run $8,388 to $54,540, a spread of about 6.5 times inside one state. At that width the ranking matters less than knowing which end you are looking at, and the cheap end is usually public and usually conditional on residency.

Is a DNP cheaper in Minnesota if you live there?

Yes, by $6,732 a year at the widest of the 1 public institution publishing both rates. Enrolling in a distance program does not confer residency; the state sets it under its own rules.

Can a nurse practitioner practice independently in Minnesota?

AANP puts Minnesota in its full practice category, the least restricted of the three: state law lets nurse practitioners evaluate, diagnose, order and interpret tests and prescribe under the board's own licensure authority. That is AANP reading the statute, not a federal designation, and legislation moves it.

What do nurse practitioners earn in Minnesota?

A median of $133,260, within $960 of the national $132,300. Minnesota pays the going rate rather than a premium or a discount, which makes the other variables the deciding ones.

Does federal loan repayment apply in Minnesota?

It can, and here it mostly means rural practice: 140 of the 199 designated primary-care shortage areas are rural. Eligibility follows an approved site rather than a state, so the question belongs to the employer.

Can you study for a DNP online in Minnesota?

4 of the 6 measured institutions carry the flag. It covers taught content and nothing else, so the number to ask each school for is on-campus days and the months they fall in.

Sources

Two datasets produce every figure on this page, and the institutions those figures describe are listed under them. Nothing here is compiled from a school's own marketing material.

  1. 1 CCNE Accredited Program Directory It decides which institutions appear on this page at all: the 12 in Minnesota below are the ones it lists as holding current accreditation for the Doctor of Nursing Practice.
  2. 2 IPEDS Published tuition, annual conferrals, institutional completion and the distance-education flag.

Every federal figure on this site is read from the administering agency’s own page, never from a secondary aggregator, and the reading date is recorded beside it.

The Institutions Behind These Figures

Every institution the two datasets name in Minnesota, alphabetically. A link is the web address that institution reports to the federal directory, the school’s own site, not a page about the doctorate. Where this site has fetched a page on that site and confirmed it contains the words “Doctor of Nursing Practice”, that page is linked too and marked as confirmed; that is true of 1 of 12 here.

  1. 1

    Augsburg University

    Minneapolis, MN · Private nonprofit · carries federal figures

  2. 2

    Capella University

    Minneapolis, MN · Private for-profit · carries federal figures

  3. 3

    College of Saint Benedict

    Saint Joseph, MN · Private nonprofit · carries federal figures

  4. 4

    College of Saint Benedict/Saint John's University

    On the CCNE roster; no federal record under a nursing doctoral classification, so no directory address and no figures

  5. 5

    College of St. Scholastica

    Duluth, MN · Private nonprofit · carries federal figures · filed federally as The College of Saint Scholastica

  6. 6

    Metropolitan State University

    On the CCNE roster; no federal record under a nursing doctoral classification, so no directory address and no figures

  7. 7

    Minnesota State University Mankato

    On the CCNE roster; no federal record under a nursing doctoral classification, so no directory address and no figures

  8. 8

    Rasmussen University

    On the CCNE roster; no federal record under a nursing doctoral classification, so no directory address and no figures

  9. 9

    St. John's University

    On the CCNE roster; no federal record under a nursing doctoral classification, so no directory address and no figures

  10. 10

    University of Minnesota

    On the CCNE roster; no federal record under a nursing doctoral classification, so no directory address and no figures

  11. 11

    Walden University

    Minneapolis, MN · Private for-profit · carries federal figures

    Its own DNP page , fetched and confirmed to name the degree

  12. 12

    Winona State University

    Winona, MN · Public · carries federal figures

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