Southeast Community College's Lincoln campus remains the only public, ACEN-accredited practical nursing program based within city limits, a fact that shapes nearly every decision a prospective LPN student in the area has to make. Bryan Health, CHI Health St. Elizabeth, and a widening ring of long-term care and outpatient facilities keep hiring LPNs steadily, but seats in that single public program are limited relative to demand.
That scarcity pushes many applicants toward hybrid or online-coursework paths that still satisfy Nebraska's clinical-hour requirements, widening the realistic pool of options beyond one campus.
Cost, admissions competitiveness, and licensure outcomes vary enough between these paths that comparing them directly matters more than picking the first one you find.
Why Lincoln Is a Strong Market for LPNs
Lincoln's healthcare sector has grown faster than its supply of licensed practical nurses, and that gap works in your favor as a new graduate. Hospitals, rehab centers, and long-term care facilities across the city are competing for the same pool of LPNs, which means job offers often come before graduates even finish testing for licensure.
Who's Hiring
The city's largest healthcare systems anchor demand. Bryan Health, which runs two hospital campuses in Lincoln, is a consistent LPN employer, as is CHI Health St. Elizabeth. Madonna Rehabilitation Hospital hires LPNs for its specialized rehabilitation units, and Tabitha appears regularly among the city's long-term care employers.1 Beyond these larger names, skilled nursing and assisted living facilities such as Lancaster Rehabilitation Center, Emerald Nursing & Rehab Lancaster, Emerald Brookside, and Old Cheney Rehabilitation post LPN openings routinely, alongside clinics like Bluestem Health3 and Alivation Health4 and staffing agencies like Maxim Healthcare Services, which has advertised LPN home care pay near $34 an hour.2
Scope of Practice and Autonomy
Nebraska's scope of practice gives LPNs real clinical responsibility. LPNs here can pursue specialty certification for LPNs in IV therapy, administer medications under RN supervision, and in long-term care settings often function with a high degree of independence, managing medication passes, wound care, and resident assessments with less direct oversight than in acute hospital units. That autonomy is part of why long-term care remains such a steady employment path for Lincoln LPNs.
Growth and Regional Reach
Healthcare employment projections covering 2020 through 2030 point to sustained growth across the Lincoln metro1, and the city functions as a regional hub for LPN programs in Nebraska. Graduates from Lincoln-based programs frequently find work not just locally but in nearby communities, including Omaha LPN programs (50 miles), Beatrice (40 miles), Seward (25 miles), York (50 miles), and Nebraska City (55 miles), widening the job search well beyond city limits.
LPN Salary and Earnings in the Lincoln Metro
Lincoln-area LPNs earn well above the national median. Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows a median hourly wage of $27.99 in the Lincoln metro, which translates to roughly $58,220 annually for a full-time schedule. That outpaces the most recent national LPN median of $48,820 by a significant margin. What drives the spread from entry-level to top-tier pay? Experience is the most obvious factor: a new graduate starting in a nursing home will land closer to the 10th-percentile mark, while a seasoned LPN with an IV certification working night shifts in a hospital or rehab facility can push toward the 90th percentile. Shift differentials for evenings, nights, and weekends routinely add $2 to $4 per hour in Lincoln's hospital systems. Specialty certifications, particularly IV therapy and wound care, also bump hourly rates. The statewide percentile spread below gives you a realistic picture of where your pay could fall at each stage of your career.
Can You Complete an LPN Program Online in Nebraska?
For LPN training in Nebraska, the real choice is not fully remote over fully in-person but how much of the classroom portion you can complete on your own schedule. State licensing rules require hands-on clinical hours and skills-lab time in front of live instructors, so no practical nursing program here, in Lincoln or anywhere else, lets you finish without setting foot on a campus or clinical site.
What "Hybrid" Actually Means
Southeast Community College has moved several of its practical nursing pathways toward a hybrid structure, pairing online coursework with in-person skills labs and clinical rotations. SCC's hybrid offerings run through Lincoln, Beatrice, Falls City, and York, with both full-time and part-time tracks starting in different terms depending on location. Nebraska Methodist College, which offers accredited LPN programs in Omaha, runs a similar model for its one-year practical nursing certificate: online lecture content paired with on-campus labs and clinical placements. By contrast, programs like Central Community College and Metropolitan Community College remain largely campus-based, with less flexibility built into the didactic side.
Clinical Placements Still Anchor You Locally
Even in hybrid LPN programs, your clinical hours happen at partner hospitals, clinics, and long-term care facilities near the campus you're enrolled through. A program based in Beatrice or York won't place you at a facility across the state, so "hybrid" doesn't mean "remote from anywhere." Before enrolling in any program marketed as flexible or online, ask directly where clinical placements happen, how far you'll need to travel, and whether seats at those sites are guaranteed for your cohort.
Admissions Requirements and How to Get In
Both Lincoln-area programs use selective admission, so understanding each school's requirements early gives you the best shot at securing a seat. Here is what to expect and how to prepare.
- GPA thresholdsSoutheast Community College requires a grade of C or higher in every prerequisite and general-education course; the school describes its nursing admission as selective but does not publish a single numeric GPA cutoff in its current materials. Bryan College of Health Sciences sets clearer benchmarks: a 2.75 cumulative high school GPA, a 2.75 core-curriculum GPA, and a 2.5 cumulative college GPA for applicants with prior college credit.
- Entrance exam (TEAS)Bryan requires the ATI TEAS and caps retakes at two attempts within a six-month window, though a specific minimum composite score is not published for its practical nursing track. Southeast Community College's current practical nursing checklist does not confirm or deny a TEAS requirement, so contact the admissions office directly to clarify whether the exam is needed and, if so, what score qualifies.
- Prerequisite courseworkAt Southeast Community College, applicants must demonstrate college-level English and math readiness, placement scores or a transcript showing eligibility for ENGL 0960 or higher, and must have completed Intro to Nursing as a Career within the three years before acceptance. Written Communication must also be finished before Year 1 begins. Bryan's prerequisite list for its practical nursing pathway is not fully detailed in current catalog materials, so request the complete course list from an advisor.
- CPR, background check, and drug screeningSoutheast Community College requires an American Heart Association BLS for Healthcare Providers card within 15 days of your admittance notice, no other CPR certification is accepted. A criminal background check (with a nonrefundable $45 fee) is run during your first term, and drug and alcohol testing occurs before your first clinical rotation. Bryan's published admissions materials do not currently specify CPR, background check, or drug screening requirements for the practical nursing track, but most clinical partners mandate all three, so expect similar steps.
- Application timeline and cohort sizeSoutheast Community College's practical nursing program typically starts in the fall, meaning application windows generally open several months earlier in the spring. Exact deadlines and cohort sizes for both SCC and Bryan are not published in their latest online materials, so contact each program's admissions office as early as possible, seats in Lincoln-area LPN cohorts are limited, and programs can fill quickly.
- Strengthening a borderline applicationIf your grades or test scores sit near the minimum, focus on two high-impact moves. First, retake the TEAS after targeted prep, Bryan allows two retakes within six months, so use that window strategically. Second, earn an A in Anatomy & Physiology or another science prerequisite; a strong science grade signals clinical readiness and can offset a softer overall GPA. Completing all prerequisites before you apply also shows admissions committees that you are ready to start the program without delays.
NCLEX-PN Pass Rates for Lincoln-Area Programs
A program's NCLEX-PN first-time pass rate is one of the clearest indicators of how well it prepares graduates for licensure. The table below compares Southeast Community College's reported pass rates against the Nebraska state average and the national average for recent testing years. Bryan College of Health Sciences also serves the Lincoln area, but its program-level NCLEX-PN results are not broken out in the most recent Nebraska Board of Nursing annual reports available at the time of publication, so we have not included unverified figures. If you are considering Bryan College, contact the school directly or check the Board's latest annual report for updated data.
| Metric | 2023 | 2024 | 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Southeast Community College (first-time pass rate) | 87.10% | 92.20% | 92.77% |
| Nebraska State Average | 89.24% | 89.24% | Not yet reported |
| National Average | 83.09% | 89.24% | Not yet reported |
Related Articles
Top LPN Programs for Lincoln Students
Below are the top LPN programs serving Lincoln students, ranked by IPEDS completion data, accreditation status, and program fit. Both entries on this list lead to the NCLEX-PN and place graduates into the Lincoln-area healthcare workforce, but they differ sharply in cost, format, and how much of the training happens in your own backyard.
How we ranked these
- Median graduate debt
- Institutional graduation rate
- Accreditation and state approval
- Program format and flexibility
- Clinical placement access
- 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
- Bureau of Economic Analysis cost-of-living index by state — bea.gov
Southeast Community College Area
Southeast Community College is the Lincoln-based option, with its practical nursing program housed at the 8800 O Street campus and clinical rotations running through Lincoln, Beatrice, Falls City, and surrounding communities. The diploma can be finished in two terms full-time or four terms part-time, and it shares a simulation center with Bryan College of Health Sciences right in the city. In-state tuition runs about $3,690 for the year with a stated program tuition of $4,890 and an estimated total cost of $7,573, making it the lowest-cost route into LPN practice for local students.
Practical Nursing (LPN), Certificate or Diploma — Hybrid
