Zip code 19711 sits about ten minutes from Delaware Tech's Stanton campus in Newark and roughly thirty minutes from Wilmington's hospital corridor, which means practical nursing training for this address was never really confined to city limits. Four programs fall within a reasonable commute, tuition among them spans a gap wide enough to change a household budget by tens of thousands of dollars, and admission to the cheapest option runs on a waitlist, not a rolling deadline.
Two searches drive most of the traffic into this decision: fully online LPN training and six-month completion. Neither holds up once clinical hour requirements and Delaware Board of Nursing rules enter the picture, and it's worth knowing that before comparing brochures.
Who Hires LPNs Around Newark, and Where You'll Do Your Clinicals
The name on your diploma matters less than where you actually train and clock LPN clinical hours, because that pipeline often determines your first job offer. Newark sits inside a dense healthcare corridor, but the biggest employer isn't necessarily the biggest hirer of LPNs.
The Employer Landscape
ChristianaCare anchors the region with its Newark campus and Wilmington Hospital, and it's the most recognizable name new grads target. But in Delaware, hospitals lean heavily on RNs for inpatient units, so LPN hiring volume actually runs higher in skilled nursing and long-term care facilities strung along the Route 40 and Route 13 corridor for graduates of LPN programs in Delaware. Physician practices in Bear, Glasgow, and Elkton, Maryland round out a steady, if less glamorous, source of outpatient LPN roles. Corrections and rehab settings also absorb a meaningful share of graduates, so walking in expecting a hospital badge on day one sets up a mismatch with how the market actually hires.
Where Programs Send Students
Clinical placement site matters because it's often a soft audition. Delaware Technical Community College's Stanton campus in Newark holds a general clinical affiliation with ChristianaCare Nursing Clinical Education Partnerships, though that relationship isn't confirmed as specific to the practical nursing cohort. Dawn Career Institute, also in Newark, names BAYADA Home Health Care, ChristianaCare, and Dwyer Workforce Development as community partners, giving students exposure to both facility and home health settings. Delaware Skills Center in New Castle runs a residency arrangement with ChristianaCare that splits early instruction between New Castle and Dawn's Newark site.1 Where you land for clinicals shapes your commute now and your reference list later.
Commuting Beyond Newark
Because the Newark job market is compact, most students end up commuting. Wilmington offers the deepest hospital and long-term care bench. Elkton, Maryland and Bear sit within easy reach for outpatient work. Middletown is expanding its facility footprint south of Newark, and the Philadelphia and Chester County, Pennsylvania suburbs across the state line open up additional openings for students willing to drive 30 to 40 minutes each way.
Online, Evening and "6-Month" LPN Training: What Actually Exists Near Newark
Can you finish LPN training online near Newark, or squeeze it into six months on evenings and weekends? Not really, and the reasons matter before you enroll anywhere.
None of the four Newark-area programs publishes a hybrid or online option for practical nursing coursework. Delaware Tech Stanton, Dawn Career Institute, Delaware Skills Center and Polytech Adult Education all deliver their nursing theory, skills labs and clinical rotations in person. That isn't an oversight. Delaware Board of Nursing rules require at least 200 clinical hours for LPN candidates, and simulation can cover no more than half of a course's clinical time, meaning a minimum of 50 percent of every clinical course happens on a real unit with a real patient assignment. There's no way around sitting for those hours in person.
Schedule formats that actually exist
Delaware Tech Stanton runs its one-year diploma in person, three to four days a week, once you clear selective admission (TEAS, anatomy and physiology, math). Delaware Skills Center runs a single daytime cohort a year, Monday through Friday, 7:30am to 3:00pm, with mandatory attendance and no evening or part-time track. Polytech Adult Education is also full-time days only, Monday through Friday, 8:15am to 2:45pm. Dawn Career Institute's catalog doesn't spell out a day/evening split for its nursing cohort, so ask directly if scheduling flexibility matters to you.
Reality-checking the "6-month" search
Published lengths run 44 weeks (Delaware Skills Center), 48 weeks (Dawn Career Institute), roughly 11.5 to 12 months (Polytech, with cost and duration figures that have shifted slightly year to year), and about 12 months (Delaware Tech Stanton). A genuinely 6 month LPN program would have to strip clinical exposure, skills repetition or theory depth to hit that timeline, and it likely wouldn't meet Delaware's clinical-hour floor.
Before enrolling anywhere, confirm two things: that the program carries current Delaware Board of Nursing approval, and, if you're considering an out-of-state online option, whether it can actually place you in a Delaware clinical site. Many can't.
Newark-Area LPN Program Costs, Line by Line
Sticker price varies more than most applicants expect, and the gap is not subtle: a private career school program can run several times what the community college charges. The figures below come from each school's published materials as of September 2026, plus the current national NCLEX-PN exam fee and Delaware's licensure application fee. Treat any program that does not publish a full breakdown as an invitation to ask the admissions office for one in writing before you sign anything.
| Program (Campus) | Tuition & Fees | Books, Uniforms & Supplies | NCLEX-PN & Licensure Fees | Estimated Total Cost |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Delaware Technical Community College, Stanton (Practical Nursing Studies) | Charged at the College's standard per-credit rate for credit courses; no separate program tuition is published | Additional costs for uniforms, lab supplies, textbooks, nursing education software such as ATI, and computerized exam programs; dollar amounts not published | Not bundled into program costs; see the exam and licensure rows below | Not published as a single figure |
| Delaware Skills Center, Wilmington (Licensed Practical Nursing) | $13,600.00 for a non-funded applicant | Included in the quoted fee, along with background checks and drug screening | Not itemized in published materials | $13,600.00 as published, before exam and licensure fees |
| Polytech Adult Education, Woodside (Practical Nursing) | $14,794.00 | $170.00 | $200.00 | $18,713.00 |
| NCLEX-PN examination (national) | $165.00 exam registration | N/A | $165.00 registration | $214.00 including associated costs |
| Delaware LPN licensure application (Delaware Board of Nursing) | N/A | N/A | $181.00 application fee | $181.00 |
No matter what the ad says, no LPN program near Newark can be finished entirely online: the clinical hours happen in person, and the lower the sticker price, the longer the timeline usually runs.
Getting Accepted: Entrance Exams, Prerequisites and Waitlists
Newark-area practical nursing programs screen applicants in two stages: an entrance exam plus academic paperwork up front, then health and background clearances before you touch a patient. Here is what each program actually asks for.
- Entrance exam and scoreDelaware Tech's Stanton practical nursing program uses the ATI TEAS, with 58.7 as the score that makes you eligible to apply, not a guarantee of a seat. Since March 2024 the TEAS must be taken in person there. Dawn Career Institute accepts any one of four exams: Wonderlic 18, TEAS 50%, HESI 70%, or PAX 105, and scores higher scores more favorably. Delaware Skills Center requires the TEAS with a $180 nonrefundable fee and appointments scheduled in the fall–winter window. Polytech Adult Education requires an in-person ATI TEAS with a "satisfactory" score; remote attempts are not accepted.
- Academic prerequisites and GPAAll four require a high school diploma or GED. Delaware Tech is the only one with college coursework attached: MAT 152 (or an approved college math) and anatomy and physiology, BIO 110, or BIO 120 and BIO 121, completed before you apply, plus a 2.0 minimum GPA. Dawn, Delaware Skills Center and Polytech do not publish a college prerequisite or a GPA floor.
- Age and residencyDawn admits applicants 17 and older. Polytech requires you to be 18 by the second week of July. Delaware Skills Center requires Delaware residency, a Social Security number, two professional references and an interview.
- Background check, drug screen and health clearancesCriminal background check and drug screening are required at Dawn, Delaware Skills Center and Polytech. Polytech and Delaware Skills Center also require a physical exam, immunizations and a check against Delaware's Adult and Child Abuse Registry; Delaware Skills Center charges about $155 for the background and drug screen. At Dawn, CPR certification and the drug screen come at admission, while fingerprinting, titers and TB testing are due before the second term. Delaware Tech does not spell these out publicly, but expect them before clinical placement.
- Cohort size, deadlines and waitlistsNone of the four publishes cohort seat counts or a formal waitlist. That does not mean admission is open, Dawn's point-based exam scoring and Delaware Tech's "eligible to apply" language both signal competitive ranking rather than first-come seating. Delaware Skills Center schedules TEAS appointments only in a narrow fall-to-January window, so missing it costs you a full cycle.
- Where applicants stumbleTwo avoidable failures: expired immunizations and titers that come back non-immune, which stalls clinical clearance after you've already paid tuition; and assuming an entrance exam can be retaken freely. Retest rules for the practical nursing track are not clearly published at Delaware Tech, and Polytech and Delaware Skills Center require in-person testing. Call the program before you sit the exam, not after.
LPN Pay Across the Wilmington-Camden Metro and Delaware
The bar below shows the national wage spread for licensed practical and vocational nurses (SOC 29-2061) in the May 2023 Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics release, because BLS does not publish percentile breakdowns for the Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington metro or for Delaware. That spread is the right yardstick here: the metro median of $59,730 a year across 13,020 LPN jobs lands exactly on the national median, so Newark graduates sit squarely in the middle of this curve rather than above or below it. Delaware statewide reported 1,780 LPNs with a median hourly wage of $30.38 and a mean annual wage of $63,490. In practice, the lower end of the range is dominated by skilled nursing facilities, assisted living and home health, while hospital-based and correctional nursing posts, plus shift differentials for nights and weekends, pull earnings toward the upper percentiles.
NCLEX-PN Pass Rates and How Many Students Actually Finish
Delaware's first-time NCLEX-PN pass rate hit 95.83% in the 2023-2024 school year, against a national first-time rate of 89.46% in the same reporting period. That is the state's strongest showing in recent Board of Nursing reports, a positive sign if you're still asking Should I Become an LPN / LVN?. It was not always this way: Delaware posted 90.80% in 2018-2019 (163 candidates), dropped to 82.96% in 2019-2020 (135 candidates), then recovered to 85.83% in 2021-2022 (120 candidates). The national comparison figures for those years were 85.75%, 84.00% and 80.10%.
Read the Denominator, Not Just the Percentage
Program-level numbers in a small state swing hard. Delaware Technical Community College's Owens campus reported 100% first-time passing in 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2023-2024, but 73.08% in 2021-2022. Terry campus ran 100%, 100%, 97.22% and 94.74% across those same years; Stanton posted 100% in 2023-2024. Polytech Adult Education has been steady in the high 80s to mid 90s (90%, 94.44%, 89.47%, 91.67%). Delaware Skills Center went 91.89%, then 78.79%, then 0% in 2021-2022, then back to 100% in 2023-2024. Leads/Adoni Health Institute swung from 75% to 53.33% to 88.57%, then 0% in 2023-2024.
A few entries show 0%, which in these reports means no first-time candidates sat the exam from that program that year, not that everyone failed. A 100% rate on eight test-takers and a 91% rate on sixty are different signals entirely. Ask for the number tested alongside the percentage.
What a Below-Average Rate Should Prompt You to Ask
If a program sits under the national first-time average for two consecutive years, that is a fair question for an LPN/LVN Program Admissions officer, not a disqualification. Ask what changed, whether faculty turned over, whether the program added an exit exam or NCLEX review, and what the rate looks like in the most recent unpublished year.
Acceptance Is Not Completion
Annual completion counts for Delaware practical nursing programs are not published in the data we track, and pass rates only count the students who made it to the exam. Attrition happens in the first clinical rotation more often than applicants expect. Request, in writing, how many students started the last two cohorts and how many finished on schedule. A program that will not answer that has told you something.
Related Articles
Free and Low-Cost Routes Into Practical Nursing in Delaware
Truly free LPN training exists in Delaware, but it runs through workforce funding rather than tuition discounts from schools. The money comes from the Delaware Department of Labor, not the admissions office, and you generally have to qualify before you enroll.
WIOA Training Accounts Are the Main Door
Delaware funds approved training through Individual Training Accounts under WIOA, and the state's provider list for the 2026-2027 program years carries more than 280 approved training providers.1 Two practical nursing training programs are WIOA-approved for 2026: one at 823 Walnut Shade Road in Woodside and one at 500 Ships Landing Way in New Castle, the closer of the two to Newark. Both sit outside the Newark city limits but well inside a reasonable commute.
Eligibility has two layers, and applicants routinely miss the second. WIOA adult funding starts at age 18 (the youth program covers ages 16 to 24)1, with priority generally going to lower-income applicants and those facing employment barriers. Separately, you still have to clear the program's own admission gate: a high school diploma or GED, an entrance exam (the Woodside program uses the ATI-TEAS)2, and a criminal background check. The New Castle program additionally requires U.S. citizenship and Delaware residency, according to its Delaware JobLink Institution Program 1643 (Practical Nursing) listing. Job Corps carries no program cost at all for those who meet its low-income and eligibility rules3, though you should confirm directly whether a practical nursing trade is currently offered near Wilmington.
Scholarships, Employers and the Title IV Question
Delaware's SEED scholarship is built around degree study, and public documentation does not confirm it covers non-degree, Board-approved practical nursing certificates. Ask the financial aid office in writing before you count on it. The same caution applies to employer sponsorship: long-term care operators and hospital systems in the region do recruit aggressively for licensed practical nurse duties, but no Delaware employer currently publishes LPN tuition terms, so treat any sponsorship offer as a contract to read closely. Work commitments and repayment clauses are standard.
Aid dependence at these schools is high across the board, with Pell grants going to roughly 77 to 87 percent of undergraduates institution-wide at the Newark-area and regional options. That makes one question critical at private career schools: confirm the specific practical nursing certificate is Title IV eligible, not just the institution.
Delaware's LPN workforce grew faster in one year than most people realize: Board of Nursing counts reported through the Delaware Health Care Commission show 2,700 licensed practical nurses in 2022 rising to 3,097 in 2023, a net gain of 397 licenses (roughly 14.7 percent). No newer statewide LPN count has been published by those agencies since.
Practical Nursing Programs Within Commuting Distance of Newark
Below are the top practical nursing programs serving Newark students, ordered around what a Newark resident actually weighs: cost after financial aid, program strength, and the drive from the 19711 zip code. Two of them sit inside the city itself, and the rest are cross-state options in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland that stay within a realistic commute.
How we ranked these
- Median graduate debt loads
- Graduation and completion rates
- Cost after financial aid
- Program accreditation and approvals
- Commute distance from Newark
- College Scorecard graduate earnings — collegescorecard.ed.gov
- Internal program database
- Independent editorial research
- IPEDS institutional survey data from NCES covering graduation rates, retention rates and student-faculty ratios — nces.ed.gov
Dawn Career Institute LLC
Dawn Career Institute is the only standalone practical nursing school located inside Newark itself, and its 48-week Practical Nurse diploma holds ACEN accreditation plus Delaware Board of Nursing approval. Training starts in the classroom and simulation lab on campus, then moves into clinical rotations at area medical facilities beginning in the second quarter, with day classes and small cohorts taught by registered nurses. Average net price after aid is around $14,800, and employer partnerships with BAYADA Home Health Care and ChristianaCare can open scholarship and hiring pathways for students who commit to working locally. For anyone living near the 19711 zip code, this is the shortest daily drive on the list.
- 48-week diploma with a capstone at the end
- ACEN accredited and approved by the Delaware Board of Nursing
- Clinical rotations in real medical facilities start in the second quarter
- Simulation training with specialized manikins
- Small classes with one-to-one instruction from RN instructors
- Financial aid available plus job placement help through Career Services
- Clinical partnership with Foulk Living
- Day classes offered at the Newark campus
Practical Nursing, Certificate or Diploma — On-Campus
Delaware Technical Community College-Terry
Delaware Technical Community College delivers its Practical Nursing Studies diploma at the Stanton campus in Newark as well as in Dover and Georgetown, so New Castle County students can train locally instead of making the run south on Route 1. The 39-credit program is ACEN accredited and approved by the Delaware Board of Nursing, pairing anatomy, composition, and quantitative reasoning with nursing fundamentals, medical-surgical, maternal and child, and mental health nursing. Admission is competitive and applicants take the TEAS, but as a public Delaware college it is the lowest-cost option among the Newark-based programs, with average net price after aid near $11,600. Graduates are eligible for the LPN licensure exam and typically move into long-term care, clinics, physician offices, correctional health, public health centers, and home care.
- 39 total credit hours
- Offered at the Dover, Georgetown, and Stanton campuses
- ACEN accredited and approved by the Delaware Board of Nursing
- TEAS exam required with a competitive admissions application
- Prepares graduates for the LPN licensure exam
- Classroom and clinical training tied to all three campus locations
- Prepares for jobs in long-term care facilities, clinics, and home care
- Practice under the direction of an RN, physician, or dentist
Practical Nursing Studies, Certificate or Diploma — On-Campus
Lancaster County Career and Technology Center
Lancaster County Career and Technology Center runs its Practical Nursing program at the Health Sciences Campus in Willow Street, Pennsylvania, roughly an hour northwest of Newark. The school's selling point is scheduling flexibility: students pick either a 12-month daytime track or an 18-month evening track, both built around small cohorts and heavy hands-on clinical work in body structure, medical-surgical nursing, pharmacology, and maternal-child health. Admission requires the TEAS along with a physical exam and criminal background check, and published costs land around $17,500 before aid. Because the drive runs well past the normal Newark commute, this one mainly fits readers who want a specific schedule badly enough to cross into Lancaster County.
- Complete in 12 months or 18 months
- Entrance exam required, TEAS
- Prepares graduates for the NCLEX
- Daytime and evening tracks available
- Health Sciences Campus location
- Small cohorts with supportive faculty
- Clinical experiences in diverse healthcare settings
- High school transcript or GED required
Practical Nursing, Certificate or Diploma — On-Campus
Chester County Intermediate Unit
Chester County Intermediate Unit's Practical Nursing Program is a public, ACEN-accredited option in southeastern Pennsylvania, with daytime classes running Monday through Friday and clinical rotations in nursing homes, extended and skilled care facilities, rehabilitation centers, and community health programs. Students split their week between classroom instruction, campus lab practice, and clinical shifts, and the program reports a 10-to-1 student-faculty ratio with full first-year retention. Cost is moderate for this group, with average net price after aid near $14,400 and financial aid available for those who qualify. It sits about a 30-minute cross-state drive northwest of Newark, so it is realistic for readers who live or work near the Pennsylvania line.
- ACEN continuing accreditation
- Classes Monday through Friday
- Built around classroom, lab, and clinical rotations
- Prepares graduates for the NCLEX-PN
- Clinical sites include nursing homes and rehab centers
- Trains students for community health program roles
Practical Nursing Program, Certificate or Diploma — On-Campus
Delaware County Technical School-Practical Nursing Program
Delaware County Technical School's Practical Nursing Program, run through the Delaware County Intermediate Unit, is a 12-month pathway that recently moved into a new facility built for growing enrollment. The training leans on hands-on patient care practice, with faculty who bring clinical experience into the classroom and a cohort culture that the school highlights through stories of family members and veterans training side by side. At roughly $22,400 average net price after aid, it is one of the pricier options here, though financial aid is available for those who qualify. It sits near Philadelphia, about an hour up I-95 from Newark, so it realistically fits readers already living or working in Delaware County.
- 12-month program, roughly one year start to finish
- Hands-on patient care training
- Moved into a new facility built for growing enrollment
- Faculty with clinical expertise
- Financial aid available for those who qualify
- Supports military veterans transitioning into nursing
Practical Nursing Program, Certificate or Diploma — On-Campus
Salem Community College
Salem Community College, just over the Delaware Memorial Bridge in Carneys Point, New Jersey, offers an ACEN-accredited Practical Nursing certificate that runs 44 weeks. The program lists total tuition of $13,084 with financial aid available, which makes it one of the most affordable complete paths on this list, and average net price after aid is the second lowest here. Training blends classroom theory, a simulated lab built to mirror real care settings, and clinical rotations in long-term care and habitation units, all organized around QSEN quality and safety competencies. For a Newark reader it is a short drive across the bridge, which makes it a genuinely workable daily commute.
- $13,084 total program tuition
- 44-week certificate
- ACEN accredited
- Financial aid available
- QSEN competencies integrated throughout
- Clinical experiences in long-term care
- Care across the lifespan
- Simulated lab modeled on real care settings
Practical Nursing Certificate — On-Campus
Harford Community College
Harford Community College's Practical Nursing certificate covers 41 credits over 12 months and is approved by the Maryland Board of Nursing, with selective admission that requires the TEAS, a 2.5 GPA, and prerequisite coursework in anatomy, English, and psychology. The school publishes median earnings for its LPN graduates of $54,620 a year, about $26.26 an hour, and the certificate articulates into its associate degree RN program or other Maryland nursing programs. Average net price after aid is around $9,200, and a spring start means one intake window a year. Bel Air sits deep into Harford County past Elkton, so this only makes sense for readers already living or working on that side of the state line.
- 41 total credit hours
- 12-month program starting in spring
- TEAS score of 58.7 required
- 2.5 GPA minimum for admission
- Prerequisites in anatomy, English, and psychology
- Approved by the Maryland Board of Nursing
- Articulation into RN programs
- Graduates report median earnings of $54,620 a year
Practical Nursing Certificate — On-Campus
Cecil College
Cecil College's Practical Nursing certificate combines classroom theory with clinical placements at affiliated hospitals and clinics across Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania, which keeps a good share of rotations close to home for Newark students. The curriculum is built on the Neuman Systems Model and stresses evidence-based practice, safety, patient-centered care, and professional communication, with a supportive cohort structure and limited enrollment. There is one fall start per year, a 2.5 GPA minimum, and prerequisite coursework, and average net price after aid sits near $9,700. North East is a short run down I-95 past Elkton, making this one of the closer out-of-state options for anyone who crosses into Maryland regularly.
- One start date per year, in fall
- 2.5 GPA minimum
- Prerequisite courses required
- Clinical experiences in Maryland, Delaware, and Pennsylvania
- Prepares graduates for the NCLEX-PN
- Neuman Systems Model curriculum framework
- Seat fee refunded for fall enrollment
- Articulation agreements for continued education
Certificate in Practical Nursing — On-Campus
Camden County College
Camden County College runs a three-semester Practical Nursing certificate of 42 credits at its Blackwood, New Jersey campus, with both daytime and evening sections and ACEN accreditation alongside New Jersey Board of Nursing approval. Students cover nursing theory, lab skills, science, social science, and humanities, then practice in hospitals, long-term care facilities, and home health agencies, and they must hold at least 75% in nursing courses to stay in the program. Average net price after aid is the lowest on this list, near $6,000, which makes it the strongest budget play for readers willing to make the South Jersey drive. Blackwood runs about 45 minutes from Newark across the Delaware Memorial Bridge and up I-295, a real commute but a manageable one.
- Three-semester certificate
- 42 total credit hours
- Daytime and evening sections available
- ACEN accredited
- Approved by the New Jersey Board of Nursing
- TEAS entrance exam required
- Must maintain 75% in nursing courses
- Clinical placements in hospitals and long-term care
Practical Nursing, Certificate or Diploma — On-Campus
Pennsylvania Institute of Technology
Pennsylvania Institute of Technology in Media offers a 12-month Practical Nursing certificate of about 50 credits, and it is the only school here that does not require an entrance exam, which matters if the TEAS is the hurdle blocking your application. The program reports an 87% licensure pass rate and an 86% job placement rate, keeps its student-to-faculty ratio at 15-to-1, and provides free tutoring alongside clinical rotations in hospitals, rehabilitation centers, and skilled nursing facilities. Tuition for the nursing portion runs about $26,850, the highest published program price on this list, though average net price after aid comes closer to $17,900 and financial aid is available. Media is about 40 minutes up I-95 and Route 1, so it suits readers who work in Delaware County or simply want the no-exam admissions path.
- $26,850 total program tuition, about $505 per credit
- No entrance exam, TEAS not required
- 12-month program with 50 total credit hours
- 87% licensure pass rate
- 86% job placement rate
- 15-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio with free tutoring
- Clinical rotations in hospitals, rehab, and skilled nursing
- Associate degree pathway in Allied Health
