11 Best LPN Programs in Wisconsin – (Online & Campus-Based)

Written By: Pattie Trumble, MPP, MPH

Healthcare employers at long-term care facilities, home healthcare agencies, and physicians’ offices throughout Wisconsin depend on LPNs to provide essential hands-on nursing care. As a licensed practical nurse in Wisconsin, you’ll enjoy a comfortable salary, and the skills you learn will be easily transferable should you choose to continue your nursing education to become an RN or an APRN at a future date. Graduates of LPN programs in Wisconsin average $52,610 a year. All you need is a high school diploma to qualify for admission, and most licensed practical nursing programs in the Badger State only take a year to complete. Sound intriguing? Review this list of the 11 best LPN programs in Wisconsin to learn more.

WHAT ARE THE BEST LPN PROGRAMS IN WISCONSIN (ONLINE AND CAMPUS)?

Based on our Ranking Methodology, the following are the 11 best nursing schools for LPN programs in Wisconsin.

1. Lakeshore Technical College - Cleveland

Program Details: Are your work or family obligations keeping you from pursuing your dreams of becoming a licensed practical nurse? Lakeshore Technical College’s LPN pathway may be one of the best LPN programs in Wisconsin for your specific needs because it’s offered part-time in the evenings and on Saturdays. Campus lecture classes meet up to four times a week from 5:00 to 10:00 p.m. Clinical courses are scheduled to coincide with hospital swing shifts from 2:30 to 10:00 p.m.

Lakeshore Technical College uses the HESI as its entrance exam and admits 16 new LPN students each year at the beginning of the summer semester (June). All applicants must either have 160 hours of certified nursing assistant experience or have completed an accredited nursing assistant course. The LPN course is taught at the Cleveland campus.

The 31-credit curriculum includes courses like “Nursing Fundamentals,” “Nursing Health Alterations,” and “Nursing Health Promotion.” You’ll perfect basic bedside skills at Lakeshore Technical College’s nursing lab, which features simulated patient rooms and manikins that can be programmed to display a variety of physiologic responses. You’ll participate in supervised patient care experiences at healthcare facilities associated with Froedtert Health, the Medical College of Wisconsin, and other healthcare facilities in Milwaukee’s northern suburbs.

Why Choose This Program

• This licensed practical nursing program in Wisconsin offers a medical-assistant-to-LPN program that will give you advanced placement credit for your MA education and work experience.
• Want to continue your nursing education? Lakeshore Technical College offers an LPN-to-RN pathway.
• Lakeshore Technical College’s LPN students have a four-year average NCLEX-PN pass rate higher than 96 percent.

2. Fox Valley Technical College - Appleton

Program Details: Fox Valley Technical College’s LPN program in Wisconsin is taught at the college’s Appleton campus and accepts new students every fall and spring. Like many other LPN programs in Wisconsin, you can only be accepted into this program if you’ve taken a nursing assistant course or you have professional experience as a nursing aide. Fox Valley Technical College accepts HESI, TEAS, and ACT entrance exams, and applicants with a high school GPA above 3.0 or a previous college degree may be able to waive the testing requirement entirely.

The 30-credit curriculum includes foundational nursing courses like “Nursing Pharmacology,” “Nursing Health Alterations,” and “Nursing Health Promotion.” You’ll also enroll in three clinical courses to learn how to apply therapeutic nursing interventions to supervised patient care. Simulated care experiences are available in the Health Simulation Technology Center, Fox Valley Technical College’s state-of-the-art nursing lab, a virtual hospital setting equipped with high-tech manikins; it is so cutting-edge that local healthcare facilities use it to train their own employees on new tasks. Once you’re comfortable with hands-on nursing skills, you’ll participate in clinical rotations at extended care centers, clinics, and hospitals throughout Appleton and Green Bay.

Why Choose This Program

• 96 percent of Fox Valley Technical College’s licensed practical nursing graduates are employed within one year of attaining LPN licensure.
• Interested in becoming an RN? You may be able to apply up to 19 credits from your FVTC LPN program toward the college’s LPN-to-ADN program.
• Fox Valley Technical College’s LPN graduates excel on the NCLEX-PN with a pass rate of over 97 percent.

3. Madison Area Technical College - Madison

Program Details: Madison Area Technical College offers its 33-credit licensed practical nursing program in Wisconsin at its Goodman South and Fort Atkinson campuses. The program starts in the fall and takes approximately a year and a half to complete. Madison Area Technical College requires either the ACT or the HESI for admission into this program. Completing a nursing assistant course is a prerequisite for this program.

Core nursing classes include “Nursing Fundamentals,” “Nursing Skills,” and “Nursing Health Alterations,” as well as three clinical courses. The college’s nursing classrooms are equipped with simulation props, which will allow you to get a handle on your basic hands-on nursing skills before you begin participating in supervised patient care activities at clinical sites. For clinical rotations, Madison Area Technical College partners with a number of local healthcare providers, including Access Community Health Centers, Columbus Community Hospital, Mercy Health System, St. Clare Hospital & Health Services, VA Medical Center, and Willows Nursing & Rehabilitation Center.

Why Choose This Program

• This LPN program in Wisconsin prepares you well for the NCLEX-PN: The average pass rate for Madison Area Technical College’s LPN graduates is 97 percent.
• Ready to level up your nursing career? Madison Area Technical College offers full-time and part-time LPN-to-ADN options.

4. Chippewa Valley Technical College - Eau Claire

Program Details: Chippewa Valley Technical College looks upon its licensed practical nursing program in Wisconsin as part of a nursing pathway that includes an associate nursing degree. Courses like “Nursing Fundamentals,” “Nursing Pharmacology,” and “Nursing Health Alterations” are designed to prepare you to provide direct patient care, communicate in a therapeutic fashion, and collect data that will be used to make patient assessments. The 32-credit program begins each August and is headquartered at the college’s campus in Eau Claire.

You’ll develop the hands-on skills you’ll need to excel in this profession at CVTC’s Clinical Simulation Center. This cutting-edge facility offers a range of task trainers and high-tech simulation equipment that can enable you to respond to challenging patient situations without putting actual patients at risk. You’ll participate in clinical rotations at long-term care facilities, acute care settings, and other healthcare agencies throughout Eau Claire and other parts of the Chippewa Valley.

Why Choose This Program

• Chippewa Valley Technical College offers advanced placement options for licensed practical nurses who want to earn their associate nursing degrees.
• LPNs who graduate from Chippewa Valley Technical College ace the NCLEX-PN with pass rates of 98 percent.

5. Moraine Park Technical College - Fond du Lac

Program Details: Moraine Park Technical College’s LPN program is not a stand-alone technical diploma but an exit point on its Associate Degree in Nursing pathway. After the first two semesters of the traditional ADN program, you’ll qualify to sit for the NCLEX-PN exam. If you want to continue with the ADN program—while working as a licensed practical nurse—you can.

This LPN program in Wisconsin comprises 31 credits and courses like “Nursing Skills,” “Nursing Fundamentals,” and “Nursing Clinical Care Across the Lifespan.” You’ll have to petition the nursing program for acceptance once you’ve been admitted into the college. Moraine Park Technical College offers its nursing pathways at its Beaver Dam, Fond du Lac, and West Bend campuses. New classes begin in the spring and fall.

You’ll learn assessment and intervention skills in Moraine Park Technical College’s sophisticated simulation center, which is equipped like a functioning hospital unit and contains manikins that can be programmed to mimic a variety of physiologic responses, even giving birth! Additionally, you’ll pursue clinical rotations at nursing homes, hospitals, and other healthcare agencies throughout the Greater Metropolitan Fond du Lac Area.

Why Choose This Program

• Are you an LPN trying to figure out how you can earn your associate nursing degree? Moraine Park Technical College has an LPN-to-ADN track designed to meet your needs.
• Local employers love Moraine Park Technical College nursing graduates. Ninety-nine percent of nursing graduates find jobs in their fields within one year of attaining licensure.

6. Gateway Technical College - Kenosha

Program Details: Flexibility is the key to the success of Gateway Technical College’s stand-alone LPN program in Wisconsin. The program is taught at two campuses—Racine and Elkhorn—and you can begin classes in the spring, summer, or fall. Best of all, the college offers full-time and part-time enrollment options so you can plan pre-existing work or personal obligations around your LPN course schedule.

Gateway Technical College also offers an LPN pathway as part of its traditional ADN curriculum. More than 97 percent of GTC’s associate nursing degree students take the NCLEX-PN exam following their first year of foundational nursing coursework.

You must be admitted into Gateway Technical College before you can petition to enter this stand-alone licensed practical nursing program in Wisconsin. The 30-credit curriculum follows the guidelines devised by the Wisconsin Board of Nursing and includes courses like “Nursing Pharmacology,” “Nursing Fundamentals,” and “Nursing Health Promotion.” The college’s simulation centers will teach you how to deal with real problems in real-life situations through the use of high-tech manikins that can mimic various health states. You’ll participate in clinical rotations at Union Grove VA Clinic, Geneva Lake Manor, Holton Manor, and other skilled nursing settings, clinics, and hospitals throughout Kenosha and communities south of Milwaukee.

Why Choose This Program

• Eager to keep your professional momentum rolling? Gateway Technical College’s LPN-to-ADN Bridge program gives experienced licensed practical nurses advanced placement into the third semester of the traditional ADN program.
• Within 12 months of graduation, 92 percent of Gateway Technical College’s LPN graduates find employment in the licensed professional nursing field.

7. Milwaukee Area Technical College - Milwaukee

Program Details: Milwaukee Area Technical College is one of several licensed practical nursing programs in Wisconsin that requires applicants to have nursing assistant training. You must also score 100 percent on the PAX NLN pre-qualifying exam. The program starts in March and October at the college’s main campus downtown.

The 32-credit LPN program in Wisconsin is part of an associate nursing degree ladder. You’ll spend the first year of the ADN program taking courses like “Nursing Skills,” “Nursing: Health Alterations,” and “Nursing: Pharmacology,” and then you’ll be presented with the opportunity to take the NCLEX-PN exam. Milwaukee Area Technical College’s nursing labs are equipped with hospital fixtures and technology, so you’ll have a place to practice your hands-on nursing skills until you become comfortable with them. Milwaukee Area Technical College partners with more than 36 local healthcare providers, including Aurora Health Care, Ascension Health, Children's Hospital, and Froedtert Hospital & Medical College of Wisconsin, to provide LPN students with clinical rotation opportunities.

Why Choose This Program

• LPN students who live in Milwaukee County and surrounding communities may qualify for the college’s MATC Promise scholarship, which will pay tuition for up to 75 coursework credits.
• Milwaukee Area Technical College may forgive the tuition debt you accrued by enrolling in its LPN program in Wisconsin if you qualify for the MATC ReStart initiative.

8. Northeast Wisconsin Technical College - Green Bay

Program Details: Northeast Wisconsin Technical College’s LPN program is so good that many licensed practical nurses are offered employment while they are still completing clinical rotations. As with several other LPN programs in Wisconsin, the LPN program is the first tier of a nursing curriculum that culminates in an associate nursing degree. The LPN pathway is offered full-time at the college’s campuses in Green Bay and Shawano and part-time at the college’s campuses in Green Bay, Sturgeon Bay, and Marinette. New cohorts are admitted in the spring and fall, and courses are taught during the day.

The foundational nursing courses you’ll enroll in will include “Nursing Fundamentals,” “Nursing Pharmacology,” and “Health Alterations.” NWTC has a high-tech virtual reality nursing lab, which gives students the opportunity to participate in complex patient care scenarios that they might not have the opportunity to encounter when they perform clinical rotations. You’ll take part in supervised patient care experiences at NWTC’s own N.E.W. Clinic (serving uninsured and underinsured patients) as well as extended care facilities, hospitals, and clinics throughout the Green Bay metro.

Why Choose This Program

• Northeast Wisconsin Technical College offers a special MA-to-LPN pathway for medical assistants who want to improve their professional standing.
• Northeast Wisconsin Technical College also offers an LPN-to-ADN Bridge program for licensed practical nurses who want to up their nursing game.
• More than 92 percent of Northeast Wisconsin Technical College’s LPN graduates pass the NCLEX-PN exam on their first attempt.

9. Nicolet College - Rhinelander

Program Details: Nicolet College’s licensed practical nursing program is the first tier of its associate degree program. Once you complete your first two terms, which include foundational nursing classes like “Nursing Pharmacology,” “Nursing Alterations,” and “Nursing Health Promotion,” you’ll have the option of sitting for the NCLEX-PN examination. This licensed practical nursing program in Wisconsin accepts new cohorts in the summer, fall, and spring and uses a combination of classroom and online teaching techniques. All applicants must take the HESI A2 entrance exam and complete a nursing assistant course.

You’ll be introduced to the hands-on techniques so vital to your LPN scope of practice in a series of sophisticated nursing skills labs equipped with medical technology and programmable manikins. Nicolet College also uses real-world simulation exercises with human actors to sharpen nursing students’ critical thinking and decision-making powers. Clinical rotations occur at nursing homes and hospitals throughout Rhinelander and other communities in Oneida County.

Why Choose This Program

• Are you an LPN searching for more professional responsibility? Nicolet College offers qualified licensed practical nurses advanced standing into the third term of its traditional ADN program.
• Nursing courses at Nicolet College are kept small so that LPN students can benefit from extensive one-on-one time with instructors.

10. Bryant & Stratton College – Wauwatosa

Program Details: Bryant & Stratton College is a nationwide education purveyor, so its licensed practical nursing courses are substantively different from the LPN curriculum associated with colleges that are part of the Wisconsin Technical College System. You’ll take core nursing courses like “PN-Medical/Surgical Nursing I & II,” “Pharmacology for LPNs,” and “Lifespan Development & Nursing Practice.” This LPN program in Wisconsin is offered at Bryant & Stratton’s campuses in Racine and Wauwatosa. Full-time students will be able to earn their diplomas in 12 months.

The college’s nursing simulation labs are designed to resemble a hospital unit with fully functioning beds, equipment, and even a nurse’s station; you’ll learn and practice hands-on skills like obtaining vital signs and drawing blood using programmable patient simulators. You’ll participate in clinical rotations at top-notch long-term care facilities and acute care centers throughout suburban Milwaukee.

Why Choose This Program

• 92 percent of Bryant & Stratton’s LPN graduates secure employment in a licensed practical nursing field within six months of passing the NCLEX-PN.
• Bryant & Stratton has no waiting list. So long as you score above a minimum required level on their entrance exam, you can start LPN classes immediately.

11. Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University - Hayward

Program Details: What makes Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University one of the best licensed practical nursing programs in Wisconsin? Its emphasis on teaching aspiring LPNs how to deliver holistic, culturally sensitive, and evidence-based patient care. All applicants must be a member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Ojibwe or another federally recognized tribe or be able to document they have a one-quarter degree of Native American blood before they will be accepted into this licensed practical nursing program in Wisconsin. Additionally, all applicants must take the ATI TEAS exam and complete a nurse’s aide course. LCOOU’s LPN pathway is the first segment in a nursing program that leads to an associate degree in nursing.

The 40-credit curriculum includes two clinical courses, each requiring approximately six hours of clinical time each week, as well as lecture courses in “Nursing Pharmacology,” “Nursing Health Alterations,” and “Nursing Health Promotions.” Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University’s nursing lab has cutting-edge medical equipment and high-fidelity patient simulators that can mimic a spectrum of human health conditions. Clinical rotations are scheduled at healthcare agencies throughout Hayward and other parts of central Wisconsin.

Why Choose This Program

• Are you an LPN who’s interested in jumpstarting a registered nursing career? This licensed practical nursing program in Wisconsin offers an LPN-to-ADN Progression Track that will award you advanced placement credits for your LPN education.
• Nursing students at Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe University who opt to take the NCLEX-PN exam have a 100 percent pass rate.


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Frequently Asked Questions Answered By Our Expert

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3. What Is The Average Salary For LPN Nurses In Wisconsin?

4. Average LPN Salary In Wisconsin VS. Average LPN Salary In The Nation: Who Earns More?

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