Dayton draws its practical nursing students from a short list of Ohio Board of Nursing-approved programs, nearly all career centers and community colleges rather than universities. Within a 40-mile drive of the 45424 zip code, campuses cluster in Dayton, Huber Heights, Kettering, Beavercreek, Springfield, and Middletown.
The real tradeoff is cost, schedule, and first-time NCLEX-PN results. Clark State lists its practical nursing certificate near $11,172 total; Butler Tech quotes $15,100 tuition before adding $5,500 in books and supplies; private career colleges run higher. A 12-month certificate pays off faster when Dayton-area LPNs earn a median near $61,770, but only if clinical hours and board approval align with Ohio licensing rules.
LPN Schools in and Near Dayton, Ohio
Below are the top practical nursing programs serving Dayton students, ranked by cost, institutional outcomes data, and program fit. Every program on this list is campus-based, so plan for in-person classes and clinical rotations rather than a fully online route. Each entry covers what the school teaches, how long the program runs, and the students it fits.
How we ranked these
- Median graduate debt loads
- Institution-wide graduation rates
- Program cost and total tuition
- Licensure exam pass rates
- Program fit for Dayton commuters
- College Scorecard graduate earnings — collegescorecard.ed.gov
- IPEDS institutional survey data from NCES covering graduation rates, retention rates and student-faculty ratios — nces.ed.gov
- Internal program database
- Independent editorial research
Ohio Institute of Allied Health
Ohio Institute of Allied Health runs its practical nursing diploma on a single campus in Huber Heights, minutes from downtown Dayton, combining classroom instruction with on-site labs and offsite clinical rotations. The program takes about 12 months, does not require an entrance exam, and the school notes there is currently no waiting list for admission. Financial aid is available for students who qualify, and the curriculum covers nursing foundations, pharmacology, and holistic care in preparation for the NCLEX-PN.
- 12-month accelerated practical nursing diploma
- Campus-based with on-site labs and offsite clinicals
- No entrance exam required
- Financial aid available for eligible students
- Admissions require a high school diploma or GED and a background check
- Coursework covers nursing foundations, pharmacology, and holistic care
- Graduates are eligible to sit for the NCLEX-PN
Practical Nursing Diploma — On-Campus
Clark State College
Clark State College awards a Practical Nursing certificate that takes about 12 months, with a full-time track plus an evening and weekend format built for students who work during the day. The college reported a 92 percent LPN licensure pass rate in 2026, above state and national averages, and the certificate credits stack into Clark State's RN degrees. Seats are limited and a separate application is required, and the most recent application window closed on September 4, 2026. Institution-wide, the college's graduation rate across all of its programs is about 22 percent.
- Total program tuition listed at $11,172
- 12-month certificate, 45 total credit hours
- Full-time, part-time, and evening-weekend formats
- Offered at Beavercreek, Bellefontaine, and Springfield
- Prerequisites include anatomy and medical terminology
- Separate application required; seats are limited
- Approved by the Ohio Board of Nursing
- Credits stack into Clark State RN degrees
Licensed Practical Nursing Certificate — On-Campus
Ohio Medical Career College
Ohio Medical Career College sits on the west side of Dayton and delivers its practical nursing diploma in about 40 weeks across four ten-week terms, with day and evening classes and supervised clinical practice in real care settings. Applicants need a CNA or medical assistant background before starting, and the coursework spans anatomy, physiology, pharmacology, pediatrics, obstetrics, and nutrition. The Ohio Board of Nursing currently lists the program as provisional under a consent agreement dated May 28, 2026, so confirm approval status directly with the board before applying. Institution-wide, about 79 percent of the college's students complete their programs.
- About 40 weeks across four ten-week terms
- 60 total credit hours
- Day and evening class options
- Requires a CNA or medical assistant background
- Supervised clinical practice in healthcare settings
- Curriculum covers anatomy, pharmacology, pediatrics, and obstetrics
- Prepares graduates for the NCLEX-PN
Practical Nursing Diploma — On-Campus
Butler Technology and Career Development Schools
Butler Tech's practical nursing program runs 11 months of full-time study, with classes meeting weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at the Bioscience Center and the LeSourdsville campus in Monroe. Coursework covers adult and child health, maternal and newborn care, mental health concepts, and gerontological nursing, and the program includes CPR certification and NCLEX preparation. The Ohio Board of Nursing approves the program, and graduates commonly move into hospitals, extended care facilities, home health, hospice, schools, and physician offices.
- 11-month full-time program
- Classes meet weekdays from 8 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.
- Approved by the Ohio Board of Nursing
- Entrance exam required
- Total program cost around $20,600; books and supplies about $5,500
- Includes CPR certification
- Curriculum covers adult and child health, maternal care, mental health, geriatrics
- Held at the Bioscience Center and the LeSourdsville campus
Licensed Practical Nursing, Certificate or Diploma — On-Campus
Edison State Community College
Edison State Community College delivers its Practical Nursing certificate exclusively at the Eaton location, a two-semester sequence that starts in fall or spring. Students take medical terminology, human biology, nutrition, pharmacology, and microbiology alongside nursing fundamentals and care for vulnerable populations, and admission is selective with a 2.5 GPA minimum and prerequisite assessments. The college's institution-wide graduation rate is about 38 percent. For the campuses outside Dayton proper, plan on roughly 20 minutes south to Butler Tech in Monroe, about 20 minutes east to Clark State's Beavercreek site, and around 35 minutes west to Edison State's Eaton campus.
- Two-semester certificate, 34 total credit hours
- Offered exclusively at the Eaton location
- Fall and spring start terms
- 2.5 GPA minimum plus prerequisite assessments
- Entrance exam required (ACT or SAT)
- Background check, drug screen, CPR, and First Aid required
- Coursework includes pharmacology, microbiology, and nutrition
- Applicants must meet with a nursing advisor
Practical Nursing (PN) Certificate — On-Campus
Quick Answers Before You Compare Dayton Programs
Three questions come up constantly from prospective practical nursing students in the Dayton area. Here are straight answers before you start comparing schools side by side.
Are there 6-month LPN programs in Dayton, Ohio?
No Dayton-area practical nursing program is confirmed to finish in six months. Ohio programs typically run roughly 11 to 18 months of full-time study, and that holds locally. The shortest options documented near Dayton are the 40-week Practical Nursing Education Program at Ohio Medical Career College and the 12-month Practical Nursing Certificate at Clark State College.
Can I take LPN classes online in Dayton, Ohio?
Partially. Hybrid LPN Programs are the realistic option: Ross College in Dayton runs general education and core nursing lecture content online while labs and clinical rotations happen on site. Ohio Board of Nursing rules require supervised in-person lab and clinical hours, so no fully online practical nursing diploma exists in the Dayton market. Expect to be on campus and in facilities weekly.
Are there free LPN programs in Dayton, Ohio?
Not free outright, but the cost can drop substantially at accredited LPN programs in Ohio. Hondros College of Nursing Dayton's Practical Nursing Diploma is Pell eligible and offers a $2,000 grant paid across four quarters for Fall 2026 students who apply by September 25, 2026. Ohio Medical Career College also participates in federal aid. Employer tuition reimbursement at regional health systems and long-term care employers is worth asking about directly.
What Went Into This Comparison of Dayton Practical Nursing Programs
Before trusting any list of LPN programs, verify the details yourself with each school's admissions office, because published data changes faster than most directories update. Here's what shaped this comparison and where its limits sit.
The Geographic and Approval Screen
We started with a roughly 40-mile radius around ZIP 45424, pulling in Springfield, Middletown, Xenia, and Greenville alongside Dayton proper, using the same geographic screen applied to LPN programs in Cleveland and Columbus LPN programs. From there, three filters applied: current Ohio Board of Nursing approval status, publicly published cost figures, and institution-level outcomes reported through the federal College Scorecard.
Where the Numbers Fall Short
Graduation rate and net price figures come from Scorecard data tied to the entire institution, not the practical nursing program specifically, so a college's overall numbers may not reflect its LPN cohort's experience. NCLEX-PN pass rates, by contrast, come from the state board separately and do track practical nursing outcomes directly. Treat the two data types differently when comparing schools, and confirm any figure that matters to your decision directly with the program.
Board Approval vs. National Accreditation: Two Different Stamps
What's the difference between a program being "approved" by the Ohio Board of Nursing and being "accredited," and does it matter which stamp your Dayton school has? Yes, and mixing them up can cost you a semester.
Two Separate Systems
Ohio Board of Nursing approval is the one that matters first. It is what makes graduates of a program eligible to sit for the NCLEX-PN exam in Ohio. Without it, a program cannot legally prepare you to become licensed, full stop.1 National accreditation, granted by bodies like ACEN, COE, or ABHES, is a separate, voluntary institutional review. It affects whether your credits transfer to an LPN-to-RN bridge program later and whether the school qualifies for certain federal financial aid programs.
What the Current List Shows
As of the Ohio Board of Nursing's list dated July 23, 2026, both Clark State College's Practical Nurse Program in Springfield and Upper Valley Career Center's Practical Nursing Program in Piqua appear as active, board-listed programs, consistent with their standing on the prior list from late December 2025. Neither program's exact status label (full versus conditional) was fully legible in the source documents we reviewed, so treat that detail as unconfirmed until you check it yourself. Separately, at least one Ohio program outside the Dayton radius currently carries provisional status, a reminder that status can and does change.
Verify It Yourself
Before paying any deposit, pull up the Ohio Board of Nursing's current approved practical nursing program list and search the school by name. Confirm the status field directly rather than trusting a school's marketing page, since this detail matters most if you plan an LPN-to-RN bridge down the road.
First-Time NCLEX-PN Results, Program by Program
Pass rates are the single fastest way to gauge whether a practical nursing program prepares students for the licensure exam. Keep in mind that reporting years differ by program and that small cohorts (a class of eight testers, for example) can swing a percentage dramatically from one year to the next. Ohio does not publish every area program's numbers in the same place, so the figures below come from a mix of Ohio Board of Nursing files and programs' own required outcome disclosures.
| Program | Location | Reporting Year | First-Time NCLEX-PN Pass Rate | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Miami Valley Career Technology Center, Practical Nursing | Clayton, OH (Dayton area) | 2024 | 87.5% (7 of 8 first-time testers) | Ohio Board of Nursing NCLEX-PN 2024 six-month pass rate file |
| Clark State College, Practical Nursing Certificate | Springfield, OH | 2023 | 84.91% | Clark State College practical nursing program outcomes page (full-time and part-time evening/weekend cohorts) |
| Athena Career Academy, Practical Nursing | Ohio (multi-region career academy) | 2023 (calendar year) | 76.71% | Athena Career Academy completion, placement, and licensure disclosure document, reported to the Ohio Board of Nursing |
| AMI, Practical Nursing | Ohio (career college serving the Dayton region) | 2023 (Jan. 1 to Dec. 31 reporting period) | 75% | AMI Ohio retention, pass, and placement rates page, Ohio Board of Nursing pass rate table |
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What LPN Training Actually Costs in Dayton, Tuition Plus Everything Else
What does it really cost to finish practical nursing school in the Dayton area in 2026? The published LPN program cost is only the first line on the invoice.
Start With the Institution-Wide Net Price
Federal net price figures (average cost after grants and scholarships, averaged across all students at the school, not the LPN track specifically) give a rough floor: Clark State College reports roughly $12,100, Edison State around $7,100, Ohio Institute of Allied Health around $47,000, and Ohio Medical Career College around $12,400. Treat these as institutional context, not a personalized quote for the practical nursing certificate.
Program-specific tuition tells a sharper story. Clark State lists about $11,172 for the 45-credit LPN certificate, and Miami Valley Career Technology Center's adult practical nursing sequence totals roughly $11,910 across its four levels. Butler Tech runs materially higher: about $15,100 in tuition plus $5,500 in books and supplies, for a published total near $20,600.
The Line Items Schools Bill Separately
Most Dayton programs do not fold every expense into tuition. Expect to budget separately for:
- Books and course materials: several hundred to over a thousand dollars, depending on edition and bundling
- Uniforms, shoes, and a stethoscope: typically $150 to $400
- Lab kit and clinical supplies: varies by school, often $100 to $300
- Background check, BCI and FBI fingerprints, and drug screen: roughly $50 to $125 combined
- Immunizations, TB testing, and CPR certification: cost depends on your provider
- ATI or HESI testing and remediation packages: a few hundred dollars when required
- Entrance testing: Butler Tech, for example, charges a $78 entrance test fee
Fixed Regulatory Fees
These are the same no matter which program you pick. In 2026, the NCLEX-PN exam costs $200. The Ohio Board of Nursing licensure application is $75 plus a $3.50 transaction fee, and the required BCI and FBI background checks generally run $50 to $75.
The Realistic All-In Range
Add it up and a career-center or community college path in Dayton typically lands in the $12,000 to $16,000 range all-in, while private-college programs can push $22,000 to $50,000 before aid. The pricing gap between affordable LPN programs at career centers and community colleges on one side and private career colleges on the other is the single biggest financial decision you will make here.
Admission Requirements at Dayton-Area LPN Programs
Dayton-area practical nursing programs publish their prerequisites unevenly, so treat the items below as the categories to ask about rather than a fixed checklist. Call each admissions office and confirm the current requirements in writing before you pay an application fee.
- High school diploma or GED, plus any GPA floorFortis College in Centerville states that in most cases applicants need a high school diploma or the equivalent. Central School of Practical Nursing goes further, requiring a high school diploma with at least a 2.0 GPA or a GED, and applicants must be at least 18. Most other Dayton-area programs do not publish a minimum GPA, so ask directly.
- Entrance examCentral School of Practical Nursing requires applicants to pass its entrance exam. Whether other local programs use the TEAS, the HESI A2, or an in-house test, and what score clears the bar, is not published on the program pages we reviewed. Request the exam name, the cutoff, and the retake policy before scheduling.
- CNA or healthcare experienceRequirements vary by school. Ohio Medical Career College's 40-week practical nursing diploma in Dayton is described as expecting prerequisite coursework plus a CNA or medical assistant background. Other area programs admit students with no prior healthcare work, but confirm this with the school.
- Background check and drug screeningOhio Medical Career College lists a background check and drug screen among its requirements. Expect similar screening everywhere, since Ohio law restricts licensure and clinical placement for certain convictions. Disclose any criminal history to the program early, a surprise at the clinical-clearance stage can end your enrollment.
- Health clearance and CPR certificationOhio Medical Career College requires CPR and First Aid certification. Clinical sites across the Dayton metro generally require a documented immunization package and a physical before you set foot on a unit. Program-specific immunization lists were not available on the school pages we reviewed, so request the clinical clearance packet at orientation.
LPN Pay and Hiring in the Dayton Metro
Federal wage data for the Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek metro puts roughly 3,140 licensed practical and vocational nurses at work locally, with a median annual wage near $61,770 and a middle range running from about $56,880 to $64,710. Job-board averages tell a similar story in hourly terms, around $26.33 an hour in mid-2026 with most postings falling between $21.83 and $29.66 depending on experience, setting and employer. Treat the two sources as complementary rather than identical: one measures wages actually paid, the other reflects what employers are advertising right now.
| Measure | Dayton-Kettering-Beavercreek Metro | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| LPNs employed | 3,140 | Federal occupational employment estimate for the metro |
| Median annual wage | $61,770 | Half of area LPNs earn above this figure |
| Mean annual wage | $61,300 | Metro average across all experience levels |
| 25th percentile annual wage | $56,880 | Typical of entry-level and newly licensed pay |
| 75th percentile annual wage | $64,710 | Experienced LPNs, charge roles, shift differentials |
| Advertised average hourly rate | $26.33 | Job-board average for Dayton postings, mid-2026 |
| Advertised hourly range | $21.83 to $29.66 | Varies by experience, employer and setting |
| Medicare-certified home health agencies in Dayton | 20 (16 proprietary, 2 nonprofit) | All provide skilled nursing services; LPN counts not reported |
