Nursing at Pacific Lutheran University

If you plan to study nursing, take a look at what Pacific Lutheran University has to offer and decide if the program is a good match for you. Get started with the following essential facts.

PLU is located in Tacoma, Washington and has a total student population of 2,907. Of the 94 students who graduated with a bachelor’s degree from Pacific Lutheran University in 2021, 94 of them were nursing majors.

Want to know more about the career opportunities in this field? Check out the Careers in Nursing section at the bottom of this page.

PLU Nursing Degrees Available

• Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing
• Master’s Degree in Nursing
• Doctorate Degree in Nursing

PLU Nursing Rankings

The following rankings from College Factual show how the nursing progam at PLU compares to programs at other colleges and universities.

Note: Although rankings can help you see some information about a school, it's not a good idea to depend on them alone. Be sure to check out other things about the school before making your decision to attend.

Bachelor’s Degree Overall Quality & Other Notable Rankings

The nursing major at PLU is not ranked on College Factual’s Best Colleges and Universities for Nursing. This could be for a number of reasons, such as not having enough data on the major or school to make an accurate assessment of its quality.

Ranking Type	Rank
Most Focused Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools	47
Most Popular Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools	136
	147
Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools	168
Most Focused Nursing Master’s Degree Schools	202
Best Nursing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	251
Most Popular Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools	275
Most Focused Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools	275
	275
Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools	291
Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools	291
Most Focused Nursing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	293
Most Popular Nursing Master’s Degree Schools	336
Best Nursing Schools	423
Most Focused Nursing Schools	470
Most Popular Nursing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	482
	503
Best Value Nursing Master’s Degree Schools	506
Most Popular Nursing Schools	585
	825
Best Value Nursing Bachelor’s Degree Schools	896
Best Value Nursing Schools	1,644

In 2021, 24 students received their master’s degree in nursing from PLU. This makes it the #337 most popular school for nursing master’s degree candidates in the country.

There were 23 students who received their doctoral degrees in nursing, making the school the #136 most popular school in the United States for this category of students.

Earnings of PLU Nursing Graduates

The median salary of nursing students who receive their bachelor's degree at PLU is $69,659. This is 11% higher than $62,880, which is the national average for all nursing bachelor's degree recipients.

Nursing Student Demographics at PLU

Take a look at the following statistics related to the make-up of the nursing majors at Pacific Lutheran University.

PLU Nursing Bachelor’s Program

For the most recent academic year available, 14% of nursing bachelor's degrees went to men and 86% went to women.

About 52% of those who receive a bachelor's degree in nursing at PLU are white. This is below average for this degree on the nationwide level. Prospective students may be interested in knowing that this school graduates 9% more racial-ethnic minorities in its nursing bachelor's program than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with a bachelor's in nursing.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	19
Black or African American	7
Hispanic or Latino	7
White	49
International Students	3
Other Races/Ethnicities	9

PLU Nursing Master’s Program

For the most recent academic year available, 8% of nursing master's degrees went to men and 92% went to women.

Of the students who received a nursing master's degree from PLU, 54% were white. This is below average for this degree on the natiowide level. In the nursing master's program at this school, racial-ethnic minorities make up 46% of degree recipients. That is 10% better than the national average.*

The following table and chart show the race/ethnicity for students who recently graduated from Pacific Lutheran University with a master's in nursing.

Race/Ethnicity	Number of Students
Asian	4
Black or African American	1
Hispanic or Latino	3
White	13
International Students	0
Other Races/Ethnicities	3

PLU also has a doctoral program available in nursing. In 2021, 23 students graduated with a doctor's degree in this field.

Concentrations Within Nursing

Nursing majors may want to concentrate their studies in one of these areas. The table shows all degrees awarded in this field awarded for all degree levels at Pacific Lutheran University. A concentration may not be available for your level.

Concentration	Annual Degrees Awarded
Registered Nursing	94
Clinical Nurse Leader	24
Nursing Practice	23

Related Majors

Careers That Nursing Grads May Go Into

A degree in nursing can lead to the following careers. Since job numbers and average salaries can vary by geographic location, we have only included the numbers for WA, the home state for Pacific Lutheran University.

Occupation	Jobs in WA	Average Salary in WA
Registered Nurses	56,290	$82,670
Medical and Health Services Managers	6,950	$117,970
Nurse Practitioners	3,430	$117,650
Nursing Instructors and Professors	1,080	$77,540
Nurse Anesthetists	730	$195,610

References

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

• College Factual
• National Center for Education Statistics
• O*NET Online
• Image Credit: By Joe Mabel under License

More about our data sources and methodologies.