Joyce University in Draper has rolled out what it calls the nation's first accredited 90-credit Bachelor of Science in Nursing degree, a program requiring no previous bachelor's degree and opening a new route into the profession for qualified Utah residents. The BSN90 pathway launched Monday and enrollment opens this fall, with the inaugural cohort set to begin classes in spring 2027.
According to KUTV, BSN90 restructures required content across the curriculum but maintains the same academic and clinical standards, professional nursing competencies, and expectations for clinical judgment, critical thinking, communication and patient care found in Joyce University's other bachelor's nursing programs. Students in the new pathway must meet the same licensure requirements as other Joyce nursing students and will be prepared for the NCLEX-RN licensure exam just like their traditional-track peers, the station reports. Notably, the program actually includes increased hands-on clinical hours compared with Joyce University's traditional BSN track, per the same report.
The BSN90 pathway is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education and was launched as an integrated pathway within Joyce University's existing CCNE-accredited BSN curriculum, according to The Manila Times. It is a new, separate pathway rather than a replacement for the school's current offerings — existing Joyce students keep their current degrees, credits, timelines, curriculum and graduation requirements unchanged, per KUTV's reporting.
A National Shift Toward Three-Year Degrees
Joyce University's move fits into a broader shift in American higher education. Traditional bachelor's degrees require 120 credit hours, but accreditors including the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities began approving 90-credit, three-year degree models in 2023, and that approach had expanded to 119 programs across 26 states by August 2026, according to The Times of India.
Under Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities guidelines, these 90-credit pathways reduce total credit requirements by trimming general elective credits while preserving core general education and major coursework — a framework also adopted in 2026 by George Fox University in Oregon, according to the George Fox Journal. Joyce University's BSN90 carries an estimated total tuition cost of under $70,000 and is delivered in a hybrid format, combining online coursework with mandatory in-person skills labs and clinical simulations at its Draper campus, per Joyce University.
Utah's Nursing Shortage Is the Worst in the Country
The timing lines up with a stark workforce gap. Utah ranked as the state with the nation's lowest number of licensed nurses per capita in May 2026, recording just 1,399 nurses per 100,000 residents, according to National Council of State Boards of Nursing data analyzed by Becker's Hospital Review.
That shortage is colliding with a red-hot local job market. Healthcare job openings in Utah surged to 51,158 monthly vacancies in 2026 — a 33.4% year-over-year increase — while the Salt Lake City metro area averaged 24,231 monthly healthcare openings against a healthcare unemployment rate of just 0.70%, according to the Draper Herald.
Competition Heats Up Along the Draper-Sandy Corridor
Joyce University isn't the only school racing to add nursing capacity in the area. Competition among private nursing programs in Salt Lake County intensified in 2026 when national provider Chamberlain University announced a new BSN campus in Sandy, roughly a mile from Joyce University's Draper location — a move Hoodline previously reported on as Chamberlain expanded regional BSN training in response to the same shortage.
Even as new pipelines open, pay remains a sticking point. Registered nurses in Utah earned an average annual salary of about $78,000 in 2025 — roughly 16% below the national average — a gap that has contributed to workforce retention challenges as graduates look to neighboring states for higher pay, according to KSL.com.
A School Built From Vocational Roots
Joyce University was established in 1979 as the American Institute of Medical Dental Technology and operated for decades as Ameritech College of Healthcare before earning institutional accreditation from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities and rebranding in April 2022, according to a release carried by PR Newswire. The school says its overall aim, including with the new BSN90 track, is to prepare knowledgeable, confident and practice-ready nurses.
The university's scale is not small: Joyce graduated 978 total healthcare professionals in 2022, including 180 Associate of Science in Nursing graduates and 129 Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduates in its December 2022 class alone, per the school's own figures. With BSN90 now open for fall enrollment and its first cohort slated to begin in spring 2027, Joyce University is betting that a shorter, still rigorous path to a nursing degree can help chip away at Utah's persistent workforce gap — even as questions remain about whether faster graduation rates alone can offset the state's below-average RN pay.
