Texas requires 1,392 clock hours of Board-approved vocational nursing coursework before a graduate is eligible for the licensing exam, and none of the schools offering that curriculum sit inside Spring's own ZIP code, 77379. The realistic list spans a commuting radius: The Woodlands, Tomball, Cypress, Conroe, and north Houston, where Houston LVN programs operate.
A plain search for "LVN programs Spring TX" often surfaces Big Spring, a separate West Texas town 400 miles away with its own nursing college. The list sticks to Houston-metro Spring only: affordable LPN programs, admission cutoffs, NCLEX-PN pass rates, Board approval status, and schedule format.
Local pay and hiring demand shift by employer type as sharply as tuition shifts by school, and neither number holds still across a 50-mile radius.
Who Hires LVNs North of Houston, and Where Students Do Their Clinicals
Which employers north of Houston actually hire LVNs, and where do students from Spring-area LVN programs in Texas complete their clinical hours? The two questions are connected, because the facilities that train you are often the ones that later interview you.
The employer landscape within reach of 77379
The hospital names most Spring residents know are HCA Houston Healthcare Northwest, Memorial Hermann The Woodlands, Houston Methodist The Woodlands, and St. Luke's Health-The Woodlands. But be clear-eyed: Texas hospitals lean heavily toward RNs for bedside roles. In this state, LVN hiring concentrates in skilled nursing and long-term care, home health and private duty, physician offices and outpatient clinics, plus correctional and school nursing. That is exactly the market lining FM 1960 and I-45, where dialysis centers, rehab facilities, nursing homes, and clinic groups sit within a short drive of each other.
Several large systems run structured LVN entry points. Harris Health operates an LVN residency based at Ben Taub and Lyndon B. Johnson hospitals. Kelsey-Seybold Clinic runs an LVN nurse residency covering Houston and surrounding areas. Encompass Health staffs LVNs at its Houston rehabilitation hospital, while Aveanna Healthcare and Reliant Healthcare Group hire for pediatric home health and one-on-one private duty.
Where the clinical hours actually happen
Lone Star College lists frequent regional clinical partners including HCA-Northwest, HCA-North Cypress, HCA-Kingwood, several Memorial Hermann campuses, Methodist Willowbrook, Encompass Health-Humble, and Cypress Creek Hospital. Sam Houston State's rotation map covers HCA Conroe, HCA Houston Tomball, and Huntsville Memorial. Houston Community College students have rotated through St Dominic's Village, a long-term care site. Texas Health School places vocational nursing students at local facilities arranged by a clinical coordinator rather than a fixed published list.
Treat placement geography for clinical rotations as a selection criterion. Your campus may sit ten minutes away while your assigned site sits in Conroe or Cypress, and that commute runs for months. Ask every admissions office which facilities they currently use and how sites are assigned.
Can You Do This Online? Hybrid, Evening, and Part-Time Realities in North Houston
The tension here is flexibility versus what the Texas Board of Nursing will actually let a school skip. No vocational nursing program in Texas is fully online, and none in the Spring area is either. Skills labs and supervised clinical hours have to happen in person at a Board-approved site, no matter how the lectures are delivered.
What Can Move Online
Statewide, roughly half of Board-approved VN programs use online or hybrid delivery for didactic coursework (generally 50 to 85 percent online), and that share has held steady the past few years. Zero programs offer a fully online didactic track. In practice, expect hybrid LPN programs, recorded or live-online lecture blocks paired with mandatory in-person lab check-offs and clinical rotations.
Evening, Weekend, and Part-Time Options Nearby
Formats vary by campus, and few schools within reach of Spring offer a true evening or weekend vocational nursing cohort. Lone Star College-CyFair, the closest community college option, runs its nursing sequence daytime-only, though prerequisites can be taken evenings, weekends, or online. Farther afield, programs like Concorde's Grand Prairie campus and Vernon College have built part-time evening/weekend or extended tracks, which signals the model exists in Texas even if it is not guaranteed at every Houston-area site. Confirm current cohort structure directly with each school before assuming a schedule fits your job.
The '6-Month LPN' Myth
Ignore ads promising licensure in six months. Texas vocational nursing programs typically run three to four semesters, about 12 to 15 months, full-time. The fastest LPN/LVN programs exist almost exclusively for paramedics or military medics with prior clinical training, not for the general applicant pool.
'Free' Programs, Realistically
"free LVN programs in Houston" usually means one of several funding paths, not a tuition-free school: employer-sponsored tuition tied to a work commitment at a long-term care facility, Workforce Solutions/WIOA grants, Pell-eligible community college programs, or institutional scholarships.
Working While Enrolled
Clinical rotations are scheduled in fixed blocks, often daytime hours, several days a week, with little flexibility. Full-time work alongside a daytime cohort is difficult to sustain; a part-time or evening/weekend program, where available, is the more realistic combination.
Getting in: Entrance Exams, Prerequisites, and Deadlines at Local Programs
Admission to a vocational nursing seat north of Houston is a two-part problem: clearing the published minimums, then surviving a selection process that fills a capped cohort. Meeting the floor score on the HESI A2 or TEAS makes you eligible, not admitted, and Lone Star College's own deadline postings show that some cycles run no VN cohort at all on a given campus, so a missed window can cost you a full term. Verify the current deadline and cohort start directly with the campus nursing office before you pay for an entrance exam, because requirements and cycles are campus-specific even inside the same college system.
| Program | Entrance Exam & Minimum Score | Prerequisites | CNA Required? | Application Window / Cohort Starts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lone Star College Vocational Nursing (system-wide standard) | HESI A2 nursing pre-entrance exam; minimum 70 on each section and 700 on the Critical Thinking section | College-level placement in reading, writing, and math; BIOL 2404 (or BIOL 2401 plus BIOL 2402) with a C or higher, at least 4 credit hours, completed within the past 5 years; cumulative GPA of 2.0 or higher in college-level coursework; age 18 or older with a high school diploma or equivalency; background check and drug screen | Not listed in published admission requirements | Deadlines posted on the Lone Star College nursing website; applications go directly to the preferred campus, and separate applications may be needed if campus deadlines differ |
| LSC-Tomball Vocational Nursing, Level II Certificate | HESI A2 required of all LSC VN applicants; minimum 70 per section and 700 on Critical Thinking | Follows Lone Star College system VN standards (college-level reading, writing, math; BIOL 2404 or the BIOL 2401/2402 sequence with a C or better within 5 years; 2.0 cumulative GPA); background check and drug testing under health occupations policy | Not listed in published admission requirements | Campus-specific VN cycle posted on the LSC nursing deadlines page; applicants must be 18 by the program application deadline, and some posted cycles list no VN cohort at Tomball |
| LSC-Kingwood Vocational Nursing | HESI A2; minimum 70 on each section and 700 on Critical Thinking | Same system VN prerequisites: college-level placement in reading, writing, and math, BIOL 2404 (or 2401/2402) with a C or higher within 5 years, 2.0 cumulative GPA, background check and drug screen | Not listed in published admission requirements | Application submitted directly to the Kingwood nursing program with transcripts and required documents; cohort start follows the campus VN cycle posted by LSC |
| LSC-North Harris Vocational Nursing | HESI A2; minimum 70 on each section and 700 on Critical Thinking | Same system VN prerequisites: college-readiness in reading, writing, and math, BIOL 2404 (or 2401/2402) with a C or higher within 5 years, 2.0 cumulative GPA, age 18 with high school diploma or equivalency | Not listed in published admission requirements | Deadlines posted per campus on the LSC nursing website; apply to North Harris directly rather than through a single system-wide portal |
| Houston Community College Licensed Vocational Nursing Certificate (C1) | TEAS entrance exam; applicant guidance cites roughly 60% on the math section and 64% on reading as the competitive threshold | Prerequisite semester of VNSG 1216 Nutrition (2 credits) and VNSG 1320 Anatomy and Physiology for Allied Health (3 credits); minimum 2.0 prerequisite and overall GPA, with student guidance advising a C (75 or higher) in each prerequisite before applying | Not listed in published admission requirements | Structured as a prerequisite semester followed by cohort-style LVN coursework; exact deadline and start term are not specified in the published catalog description, so confirm with the program |
Related Articles
No program can make clinical hours disappear: if a school promises a fully online LVN track with no in-person skills lab or hospital rotation, that's not accreditation, that's marketing.
Adding up Every Dollar Between Enrollment and Your Texas LVN License
Tuition, lab fees, books, uniforms, and immunizations vary widely by school, and Spring-area programs do not all publish a single all-in figure, so ask each one for a current cost sheet. What does not vary are the three fixed charges every Texas candidate pays at the finish line, shown below. Expect the tuition portion on top of these to run substantially higher at private career schools than at a community college vocational nursing program.
NCLEX-PN Pass Rates and Board Approval Status at Nearby Schools
The Texas Board of Nursing publishes first-time NCLEX-PN pass rates by program each year, and it is the single most useful number for comparing vocational nursing schools around Spring. Below are the Board-reported results for the closest programs, with the reporting year shown explicitly, since not every school's most recent figure comes from the same cycle. Every program listed here is an approved Texas vocational nursing program, which is the credential that actually lets you sit for the licensure exam.
| Program | City | BON Approval Status | NCLEX-PN First-Time Pass Rate (Year) | vs. Texas Average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lone Star College North Harris | Houston | Approved vocational nursing program (listed in the Texas BON VN/PN pass-rate report) | 100% (2024) | Above the 2023 Texas VN average of 92.92%; the program reported 94.12% in 2023 |
| Lone Star College Tomball | Tomball | Approved by the Texas Board of Nursing | 100% (2024) | Above the Texas VN average, reported at 93.2% for the comparison year |
| Lone Star College Kingwood | Kingwood | Approved vocational nursing program | 94.44% (2023) | 0.97 percentage points above the Texas VN average of 91.89% reported in 2025 |
| Lone Star College CyFair | Cypress | Listed as a vocational nursing program in the Texas BON VN/PN report | 90.00% (2023) | Slightly below the 2023 Texas VN average of 92.92% |
| Houston Community College Vocational Nursing | Houston | Approved vocational nursing program (listed in the Texas BON VN/PN pass-rate report) | 85.19%, or 46 of 54 candidates (2024) | 5.71 percentage points below the Texas VN average of 91.89% reported in 2025 |
| All Texas Board-approved vocational nursing programs (statewide) | Statewide, Texas | Statewide figure includes only Texas Board-approved vocational nursing programs | 92.92%, or 3,190 of 3,433 first-time candidates (2023) | This is the statewide benchmark figure |
Texas Licensure: What Happens After You Finish
LVN Pay and Hiring Demand in the Houston Metro
Federal wage data for licensed practical and vocational nurses puts the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metro at roughly 11,220 LVN jobs as of May 2023, one of the larger concentrations in the country, inside a statewide workforce of about 59,170. Texas reported a median annual LVN wage near $56,490 in that same period, while the national median sat around $62,340 in the more recent May 2024 figures, so Texas pay generally runs under the national midpoint even in a large metro like Houston. We were not able to verify published 10th and 90th percentile breakouts specific to the Houston metro, so those cells are left open rather than estimated; treat the figures below as directional and check current federal wage tables before you negotiate. In practice, the top of the local range tends to sit in correctional nursing, dialysis, occupational health, and specialty clinics, while skilled nursing and assisted living facilities anchor the bottom, though long-term care often closes the gap with evening, night, and weekend differentials plus steady overtime that salaried averages do not capture. Nationally, employment for LPNs and LVNs is projected to grow about 3 percent, with roughly 51,800 openings a year driven mostly by replacement need. Locally, the population surge along I-45 and the Grand Parkway through Spring, Tomball, Conroe, and Cypress keeps new clinics, surgery centers, and senior living campuses opening, which is why graduates here tend to field offers faster than the modest national growth rate suggests.
| Area | Employment | Median Annual Wage |
|---|---|---|
| Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX metro | 11,220 jobs (May 2023) | Not available |
| Texas | 59,170 jobs (May 2023) | $56,490 (May 2023) |
| United States | 666,900 jobs | $62,340 (May 2024) |
Spring-Area Vocational Nursing Programs, Ranked
Below are the top LVN programs serving Spring students, ranked on what you pay after aid, how many students finish, published program outcomes, and delivery format. Every school listed holds Texas Board of Nursing approval and sits within about 50 miles of ZIP 77379, so the differences come down to cost, schedule, and how much of your week goes to driving. Cost, debt, completion, and earnings figures reflect the most recent federal reporting year unless a program-specific year is noted.
How we ranked these
- Median debt of program graduates
- Institution-wide graduation and completion rates
- Net price after grant aid
- Program-level earnings where published
- Delivery format and schedule flexibility
- 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
Lone Star College System
Lone Star College is the closest thing to a Spring-corridor option here, teaching its vocational nursing certificate at LSC-Kingwood and LSC-Tomball, a short run up I-45 from ZIP 77379. The certificate is approved by the Texas Board of Nursing and stacks into the college's Associate Degree Nursing pathway. For a Spring commuter, the draw is a short drive and a local route to the RN later.
- One-year certificate taught across three semesters
- Offered at LSC-Kingwood, LSC-Tomball, and the Tomball Health Sciences Building
- Approved by the Texas Board of Nursing
- Competitive admission with a required information session
- Entrance exam: HESI A2
- 48 credits across three semesters
- Stacks into the Associate Degree Nursing transition pathway
- Prepares for Texas LVN licensure
Vocational Nursing Certificate Level II — On-Campus
Texas Health School
Texas Health School runs a single-campus vocational nursing program of 1,440 hours and posted a 93.15% NCLEX-PN pass rate for 2025. The campus sits roughly 30 miles from Spring on the Katy Freeway, so the drive is real. What shortlists it for North Houston students is the schedule and the money: day classes finish in 48 weeks, evening classes in 74, and federal aid plus veterans benefits are accepted.
- 1,440 total training hours, including 480 hours of clinical practice
- Day track finishes in 48 weeks; evening track runs 74 weeks
- NCLEX-PN pass rate of 93.15% in 2025
- Approved by the Texas Board of Nursing
- Accredited by the Commission of the Council on Occupational Education
- TEAS entrance exam required
- Federal Pell Grants, Direct Loans, and veterans benefits accepted
- Curriculum aligned to Texas Differentiated Essential Competencies
Vocational Nursing Program, Certificate or Diploma — On-Campus
Galen Health Institutes-Houston
Galen Health Institutes opened its Houston campus with HCA Houston Healthcare as a partner, and that network feeds the clinical placements its vocational nursing program depends on. The full-time track finishes in 12 months with four start dates a year and no prerequisites. It is about 25 miles from Spring via the Sam Houston Tollway, with a higher net price than the community colleges and median federal debt near $24,000 in the latest reported year.
- 12-month full-time program with no prerequisites required
- Four start dates per year
- On-campus classes with simulation labs
- NCLEX-PN preparation and career services included
- Houston campus opened in partnership with HCA Houston Healthcare
- Background check and drug screen required
- Bridges into ADN or BSN pathways
- Entrance assessment required for admission
Practical Nursing (PN), Certificate or Diploma — On-Campus
Alvin Community College
Alvin Community College has taught vocational nursing for more than 40 years and prices its 44-credit certificate at about $7,100 in total program tuition, books and supplies included. Federal data show the lowest median graduate debt on this list, near $4,500. The catch is distance: the campus is roughly 50 miles south of Spring, so it makes sense mainly for students who are relocating or who have a strong reason to make that drive.
- 44-credit certificate completed in one year
- Total program tuition around $7,100 with books and supplies included
- Approved by the Texas Board of Nursing
- One summer start date per year
- Clinical rotations at affiliated hospitals and long-term care facilities
- HESI exam preparation workshops offered
- More than 40 years of nursing education
- Coursework includes pharmacology, surgical nursing, and pediatric care
Licensed Vocational Nursing (LVN) Certificate — On-Campus
San Jacinto Community College
San Jacinto College offers a 45-credit vocational nursing certificate with 448 supervised clinical hours and a capstone NCLEX-PN review in the final term. Admission is open at the college level, though prerequisite coursework and a background check come before clinical placement. The Pasadena campus is about 35 miles southeast of Spring, and the certificate stacks into an Associate of Applied Science for students who keep going.
- 45-credit certificate completed in one year
- 448 supervised clinical hours
- Open admission with prerequisite coursework required
- Capstone NCLEX-PN review built into the program
- Stacks into an Associate of Applied Science degree
- Offered at the North and South campuses
- Background check required before clinical placement
- Approved by the Texas Board of Nursing
Vocational Nursing, Level 2 Certificate — On-Campus
Houston Community College
Houston Community College runs its vocational nursing certificate across three full-time semesters at the Coleman Campus, 48 credits, with skills labs and clinical rotations in the Texas Medical Center. The program reports a 98% licensure pass rate, and admission is selective enough that prerequisites and the HESI-A2 should be finished early. Net price after aid is the lowest on this list, but the campus is about 25 miles from Spring, and the college's overall completion rate near 17% is a school-wide figure that reflects its open-access mission.
- Three-semester C2 certificate, 48 credit hours
- Classes meet at the Coleman Campus
- HESI-A2 entrance exam required
- Selective admission with prerequisites and a 2.0 GPA minimum
- Skills labs and simulation training
- Licensure pass rate reported at 98%
- Program capacity of 75 to 150 students
- Graduates licensed by the Texas Board of Nursing
Licensed Vocational Nursing, Certificate or Diploma — On-Campus
College of Health Care Professions
The College of Health Care Professions builds its vocational nursing certificate around clock hours, 48 weeks that can finish in as little as 11 months, with a TEAS entrance exam and clinical rotations in hospitals and long-term care. The school has been training healthcare workers for more than 36 years and offers an LVN to RN bridge. Classes meet at the Houston Northwest campus, about 25 miles from Spring up the Northwest Freeway, at a net price near $29,800 after aid.
- 48-week program that can finish in as little as 11 months
- TEAS entrance exam required
- Hands-on clinical rotations in hospitals and long-term care
- Institutionally accredited by ABHES
- Statewide job placement assistance
- LVN to RN bridge program available
- More than 36 years of healthcare training
- Classes meet at the CHCP Houston Northwest campus
Vocational Nursing Certificate Program — On-Campus
The College of Health Care Professions-Southwest Houston
The CHCP Southwest Houston campus delivers the same vocational nursing certificate across three 16-week semesters and 1,422 clock hours, 672 of them in clinical settings, closing with a senior capstone and NCLEX-PN preparation. It sits roughly 30 miles from Spring on the Southwest Freeway, with net price after aid near $28,500 and median graduate debt around $9,500. Most Spring students will compare it against the CHCP Northwest campus before committing.
- Three 16-week semesters, about 48 weeks total
- 55 credits and 1,422 clock hours
- 558 lecture hours and 192 lab hours
- 672 clinical hours in hospitals and long-term care
- Senior capstone plus NCLEX-PN preparation course
- TEAS entrance exam required
- Financial aid and scholarships available
- Competitive admissions process
Vocational Nursing Certificate — On-Campus
Planning the LVN-to-RN Jump Before You Even Start
Should you plan the LVN-to-RN bridge before you even start your LVN program? Yes, and here is why: the courses you take, the grades you earn, and the prerequisites you knock out during your LVN year all feed directly into bridge admissions decisions later.
Why the Decision Matters on Day One
Most LPN to RN bridge programs and LVN-to-BSN programs near Spring want a competitive GPA (often 2.75 or higher), completed anatomy and physiology, microbiology, and English composition, plus a TEAS or HESI score. If you treat your LVN general-education credits as throwaway coursework, you will repeat them. If you treat them as bridge prerequisites from day one, you shave a semester off the RN timeline.
The Realistic Sequence
A typical path from a Spring-area start looks like this:
- LVN program: roughly 12 to 15 months
- Work as an LVN: 1 to 2 years, often required for bridge admission and useful for building clinical judgment
- LVN-to-RN or LVN-to-BSN bridge: 12 to 24 months at nearby institutions in Houston, Conroe, Tomball, or Huntsville
Compared to going straight into an ADN (about 2 years, no income during school), the LVN-first route takes longer overall but lets you earn a nursing wage the whole time. Many Houston-area hospitals and long-term care employers offer tuition assistance for LVNs actively bridging.
For next steps, see LVN to RN programs in Texas on practicalnursing.org.
