Best Online RN to BSN Schools in Hawaii for 2027

Six of Hawaii's eight inhabited islands have no four-year nursing school of their own, which is why online completion isn't a convenience for most working RNs here, it's the only realistic path forward. A nurse on Maui or Kauai finishing an associate degree faces the same accreditation and licensure standards as someone in Honolulu, but far fewer commuting options.

That geography collides with a tighter labor market: Hawaii hospitals increasingly favor BSN-prepared nurses for charge and specialty roles, even where the state hasn't mandated the credential outright. Choosing among rn to bsn programs in hawaii , including the Fastest RN to BSN Programs , means weighing accreditation status, clinical placement logistics, and tuition against a fixed timeline for advancement.

Online nursing programs hawaii RNs rely on vary widely in structure, and the difference between a program built for island schedules and one that isn't shows up fast once clinical rotations start.

Hawaii's Best Online RN-to-BSN Programs for 2027

Hawaii offers two in-state pathways for registered nurses who want to finish a BSN, and both are built around the same constraint: most working nurses cannot leave their island, their shift schedule, or their family to complete a degree. One is based in Hilo and was designed for the neighbor islands; the other runs entirely online from Honolulu and reaches nurses statewide. Both are CCNE accredited, and both arrange clinical work close to where students already live and work.

What RN-to-BSN Programs in Hawaii Actually Cost

Tuition is the single biggest factor most working RNs weigh when choosing an RN-to-BSN program, yet side-by-side cost comparisons for Hawaii schools are surprisingly hard to find. The table below pulls from official 2026-2027 tuition schedules where available. Note that UH Manoa charges all Online RN to BS students the resident tuition rate regardless of where they live, and the nursing student professional fee is waived for this program. UH Hilo's program-specific tuition page was not published in time for this update, so the figures shown reflect the university's general undergraduate rates. Institution-wide average net price after aid is included for context, but your individual aid package may differ significantly. No RN-to-BSN program in Hawaii is tuition-free on its own; however, many Hawaii healthcare employers offer tuition reimbursement that can cover most or all of the cost. Programs such as the HRSA Nurse Corps Scholarship and Hawaii State Loan Repayment Program can also reduce out-of-pocket expense to near zero for eligible applicants.

Completing Your BSN Online From a Neighbor Island

Living on Maui, Kauai, or Hawaii Island does not automatically limit your options for online RN to BSN programs, but clinical placement logistics vary significantly between programs.

UH Hilo: The Neighbor Island Friendly Option

The University of Hawaii at Hilo explicitly welcomes neighbor island residents and offers the most flexible arrangement for students outside Oahu. All theory coursework is delivered fully online, and the program's two clinical courses can be completed on your home island. UH Hilo maintains ongoing partnerships with healthcare agencies across the islands, so students typically do not need to relocate or commute to Oahu for clinical hours.

UH Manoa: In-State Required, But Travel May Apply

UH Manoa's RN-to-BSN program includes two clinical courses that must be completed within Hawaii. The school cannot accommodate clinical placements for students in out-of-state online nursing programs. For neighbor island students, clinical assignments on your home island are not guaranteed. You may need to travel to another island, and all transportation costs, including airfare, ground transit, and lodging, are your responsibility. If you identify a potential preceptor locally, you must notify the Program Director and Clinical Placement Director before proceeding.

HPU: Oahu-Based Clinicals Only

Hawaii Pacific University's RN-to-BSN program requires clinical rotations throughout Oahu. Students must have reliable transportation to reach various clinical sites across the island, making this program logistically challenging for anyone not living on or near Oahu.

Can You Complete an RN-to-BSN Fully Online in Hawaii?

No Hawaii nursing schools offer an entirely online RN to BSN program if you count clinical hours. UH Hilo comes closest for neighbor island students by allowing home island clinical completion. UH Manoa and HPU both require in-person clinical components, with HPU specifically tied to Oahu locations.

RN-to-BSN Completion Timelines: Accelerated, Part-Time, and Flexible Options

How long does an RN to BSN take in Hawaii? Most programs can be completed in as few as two semesters of full-time study, though part-time pacing is available for working nurses who need more flexibility. Both UH Manoa (located on Oahu) and UH Hilo offer a full-time path through roughly 27 to 30 nursing credits in two semesters, while HPU provides full-time and part-time enrollment options. No Hawaii program currently advertises a separately branded accelerated track for 2026 to 2027, but the two-semester, full-time schedule already qualifies as one of the fastest completion paths available among accredited online RN to BSN programs in Hawaii. Nurses searching for accelerated nursing programs on Oahu should note that UH Manoa's asynchronous online format and worksite cohorts let you finish quickly without leaving your current employer. Clinical courses must be completed in Hawaii regardless of the pace you choose.

Admissions Checklist for Hawaii RN-to-BSN Programs

Requirements vary across Hawaii's three RN-to-BSN programs, so review each school's latest admissions page before applying. Below is a consolidated checklist based on the most recent published criteria for the 2026–2027 admission cycles.

1. Active, Unrestricted RN License

   Every Hawaii RN-to-BSN program requires a current, unencumbered RN license. UH Hilo specifically requires a Hawai'i RN license, while UH Mānoa and Hawai'i Pacific University list a current unrestricted license. All programs expect you to have passed the NCLEX-RN, and HPU's competitive nursing transfer pathway may also require a TEAS score of at least 70%.
2. Minimum GPA

   GPA thresholds differ by school. Hawai'i Pacific University requires a cumulative GPA of 2.75. UH Hilo has recently listed a 2.0 minimum for the 2025–2026 cycle, though earlier catalogs noted 2.7, confirm with the program directly. UH Mānoa does not publish a separate minimum GPA specific to its RN-to-BSN track in current materials, so contact the School of Nursing for guidance.
3. Prerequisite Courses

   UH Hilo lists prerequisites including anatomy and physiology, microbiology, introductory psychology, a communications course, and cultural anthropology, all completed with a C or better. HPU requires biology, chemistry, and math prerequisites. UH Mānoa requires an associate degree or diploma in nursing but does not detail individual prerequisites in its current admissions materials.
4. Application Deadlines

   For UH Mānoa, published deadlines include January 5 for the upcoming cycle; earlier dates such as September 1 have applied for spring starts. UH Hilo lists a May 1 priority deadline for fall admission. HPU uses a February 15 priority deadline for fall and an October 1 priority deadline for spring. These dates reflect the most recently published cycles, check each program's website for confirmed 2026–2027 dates.
5. Transfer Credit Policies

   HPU awards 29 transfer credits for graduates of an accredited RN program, giving students a meaningful head start. UH Hilo requires a minimum of 30 credits completed through UH Hilo, with upper-division nursing coursework taken in residence; no published maximum transfer cap was identified. UH Mānoa requires 120 total credits for the BSN but does not specify a transfer cap in its current online materials.
6. Supporting Documents

   HPU requires a personal statement and two professional letters of support. All programs expect official transcripts and proof of RN licensure. Verify whether your target school requires additional items such as a background check, immunization records, or CPR certification, as clinical-related requirements may apply even in an online format.
7. HPU Acceptance Rate

   Hawai'i Pacific University does not publicly report an acceptance rate specific to its RN-to-BSN pathway. Because this track differs from HPU's competitive pre-licensure BSN program, admission standards and selectivity are not directly comparable. Contact HPU's nursing admissions office for the most current information.

Scholarships and Financial Aid for Hawaii RN-to-BSN Students

RN-to-BSN students in Hawaii can draw on three main sources of financial aid for nursing students: state-administered scholarship funds, federal service-based programs, and employer tuition benefits offered through the islands' major health systems. Combining even two of these can meaningfully offset the cost of finishing a bachelor's degree while working as a nurse and reduce barriers to continuing nursing education.

Hawaii-Based Scholarship Funds

The Hawaii Community Foundation runs the state's largest scholarship clearinghouse, a single Common Scholarship Application that screens applicants against more than 300 individual funds,¹ several of which support nursing students. For the 2026-2027 cycle, the application opens December 8, 2025 and closes February 26, 2026 at 4 p.m. HST, with recommendation letters due March 13 and award acceptance by June 21, 2026.² Baseline eligibility generally requires Hawaii residency and at least a 2.0 GPA, though individual funds layer on their own criteria.¹ The Jo Douglass Nursing Scholarship Fund prioritizes Kauai residents,³ the Pauline Anne E. Johnson Fund requires a 3.0 GPA and favors students from Hawaii Island,⁴ and the John and Ruth Stepulis and Alice Smalley Scholarship Fund targets full-time undergraduates at four-year institutions with a 3.0 GPA.⁵ None of these funds explicitly carve out RN-to-BSN scholarships in Hawaii as a distinct category, so bachelor's-level nursing students should read each fund's fine print carefully before assuming eligibility.

Federal and Employer Support

The HRSA Nurse Corps Scholarship Program is a federal option worth investigating: it explicitly covers RN-to-BSN bridge programs,⁶ paying tuition, fees, and a living stipend in exchange for a post-graduation service commitment at a facility in a designated critical shortage area,⁷ which can include underserved communities across the Hawaiian Islands. Applicants must be U.S. citizens, nationals, or permanent residents enrolled in an accredited program; self-paced tracks and dual-degree programs don't qualify.⁶

Major Hawaii employers, including Queen's Medical Center, Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, and Hawaii Pacific Health, are commonly cited as offering tuition assistance to nursing staff, though specific RN-to-BSN reimbursement caps, eligibility rules, and part-time coverage vary by employer and union contract. Ask your HR or nursing education office directly for current terms.

The BSN Pay Bump: What Hawaii RNs Can Expect

Staying at the bedside with an associate degree keeps a nurse eligible for solid pay in Hawaii, but moving into charge, education, or public health roles typically requires meeting RN to BSN Requirements first. That distinction matters more in Hawaii than almost anywhere else, since the state consistently ranks among the highest-paying markets for registered nurses in the country.

What Hawaii RNs Earn Today

Statewide, Hawaii's median RN salary sits at $136,320 a year, well above the national median of $97,550.¹ In the Honolulu metro area specifically, median pay runs slightly higher at roughly $139,260², with wages for RNs generally clustering between about $104,000 and $142,000 depending on experience, specialty, and setting. Nationally, RN wages span roughly $68,940 at the lower end to $137,470 at the upper end¹, and Hawaii's typical RN already sits near that national ceiling before any RN Pay Increase from a BSN premium is factored in.

Where the BSN Fits the Equation

Hawaii's wage data doesn't break earnings out by degree type, so a precise, published rn to bsn salary increase hawaii figure doesn't exist the way it might for other credentials. What the data does show is that the roles paying toward the upper end of that range, charge nurse, case management, informatics, public health leadership, routinely list a BSN as a minimum qualification. Program-level earnings outcomes for Hawaii's two RN-to-BSN options aren't yet published, but tuition debt for both runs modest: roughly $18,500 to $20,500 at graduation. Against a wage band that spans nearly $40,000 between its lower and upper quartiles, that debt can pay for itself quickly once a graduate steps into a higher-paying role.

Beyond the Paycheck

Magnet-designated hospitals, common across Hawaii's larger health systems, increasingly require BSN-prepared staff for leadership tracks and often set BSN benchmarks for their broader nursing workforce. A BSN also enables movement into public health, community health, and administrative positions that an associate degree alone typically can't reach.

Ranking Methodology: How We Evaluated These Programs

A ranking methodology is the set of rules we use to decide which programs land where on the list, and why. Our approach follows the Our Rankings Methodology, a composite score, not a single-factor sort. That means no school ranks number one just because it has the lowest sticker price or the most recognizable name.

What Goes Into the Composite

We weigh four inputs for each Hawaii RN-to-BSN program:

• Online delivery eligibility: the program must offer a genuine online or hybrid pathway that a working nurse in Hilo or Lihue can actually complete without relocating.
• Institutional graduation rate: a proxy for how well the school supports students through to the finish line.
• Net price: what students actually pay after grants and scholarships, not the published tuition , see how this factor shapes our 5 Affordable RN to BSN Programs ranking.
• Program-level outcomes: earnings and completion data reported by the U.S. Department of Education, where available for nursing graduates.

Sources and Accreditation

Enrollment, cost, and graduation data come from IPEDS and the federal College Scorecard. We also confirm that each nursing program holds current accreditation from either CCNE or ACEN, which is non-negotiable for licensure portability and graduate school admission, including MSN Programs in Hawaii.

Where program-level earnings are not yet available for a given school, we say so rather than fill the gap with estimates.

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