Indiana’s practical nursing pipeline runs almost entirely through a single statewide institution: Ivy Tech Community College, which operates Practical Nursing Technical Certificate programs across its network of campuses covering every region of the state, from Indianapolis to South Bend to Evansville. If you’re weighing an LPN as a faster, lower-cost entry point into nursing rather than starting directly on an ADN or BSN track, Indiana offers a real financial advantage most states in this series can’t match: practical nursing at Ivy Tech is eligible for Indiana’s Workforce Ready Grant, which can cover tuition in full for qualifying residents.
Fast-scan: LPN programs in Indiana
| Detail | Typical figure |
|---|---|
| Program length | 12 months (3 semesters) full-time at Ivy Tech |
| Program type | Technical certificate, not a degree |
| Where offered | Ivy Tech Community College campuses statewide |
| Entrance exam | TEAS, required at most Ivy Tech campuses |
| Typical total tuition (in-state resident) | $8,000–$15,000 (often $0 for Workforce Ready Grant-eligible residents) |
| Licensing exam | NCLEX-PN |
| Indiana licensure application fee | $50 |
| Median annual LPN wage in Indiana | approximately $52,620 (BLS OEWS, May 2024) |
Where to find LPN programs in Indiana
Indiana’s practical nursing capacity is concentrated inside one statewide system: Ivy Tech Community College, the largest single accredited college in the country by enrollment, with campuses reaching nearly every metro and rural region of the state.
- Indianapolis and central Indiana: Ivy Tech’s Indianapolis campus runs one of the state’s largest Practical Nursing programs by graduate volume, feeding the region’s major health systems, including IU Health, Community Health Network, and Ascension St. Vincent.
- Northern Indiana: Ivy Tech campuses in Fort Wayne and South Bend serve the state’s northern tier, with South Bend’s program supplying LPN graduates to Beacon Health System and Saint Joseph Health System.
- Southern Indiana: Ivy Tech Sellersburg, near the Louisville metro, and Ivy Tech Evansville serve southern Indiana, with Sellersburg posting some of the strongest first-time NCLEX-PN pass rates in the statewide system.
- West-central Indiana: Ivy Tech Terre Haute rounds out coverage for the Wabash Valley region.
Because Ivy Tech operates as a single statewide college with a shared curriculum and shared NCLEX-PN pass-rate reporting across campuses, the practical difference between locations comes down to campus capacity, cohort start dates, and clinical partnerships rather than program content. This is a starting point, not a full directory of every approved Indiana program – a small number of hospital-based and private practical nursing programs also operate in the state. For a broader look at Indiana nursing education across all program levels, see our general LPN degree guide.
Indiana’s Workforce Ready Grant: a real cost advantage
The single biggest differentiator for Indiana’s LPN pipeline is the state’s Workforce Ready Grant, which designates Practical Nursing as one of a defined list of high-demand certificate programs eligible for free tuition at Ivy Tech for qualifying Indiana residents. Students who meet the grant’s eligibility requirements – Indiana residency, no prior bachelor’s degree, enrollment in an eligible high-value certificate program, and completion of the FAFSA – can have the tuition portion of an Ivy Tech Practical Nursing certificate covered in full.
Students remain responsible for fees, uniforms, textbooks, background checks, and clinical supply costs even when tuition itself drops to zero, and eligibility rules can change from year to year. Confirm current Workforce Ready Grant status directly with Ivy Tech’s financial aid office or the Indiana Commission for Higher Education before counting on free tuition.
How long Indiana LPN programs take
Ivy Tech’s Practical Nursing Technical Certificate runs 12 months full-time, structured across three semesters, once a student is admitted to the program – one of the tighter timelines in this series, on par with Texas, Florida, and North Carolina and faster than Ohio’s, Georgia’s, and Washington’s typical ranges. Part-time options exist at some campuses and extend the timeline for students balancing work or family obligations during training.
As with any state, confirm whether a program’s published length starts from prerequisite and general-education coursework or only from the start of core nursing classes – many students complete prerequisites like anatomy and physiology before formal admission, which can add a semester or more to the real timeline even when the core program itself runs 12 months. For more on how program-length marketing can hide extra prerequisite time, see our 1-year LPN programs guide.
Cost of LPN programs in Indiana
Indiana LPN costs vary primarily based on Workforce Ready Grant eligibility rather than by region, since nearly the entire state pipeline runs through a single college system with standardized statewide tuition rates:
| Program type | Typical total cost |
|---|---|
| Ivy Tech (Workforce Ready Grant-eligible resident) | $0 tuition + $1,000–$2,000 in fees, uniforms, and supplies |
| Ivy Tech (non-eligible in-state resident) | $8,000–$15,000 |
| Out-of-state resident | $14,000–$20,000 |
These figures cover tuition and standard program fees. Budget separately for lab supplies, uniforms, textbooks, immunizations, background check costs, and NCLEX-PN prep materials regardless of which tuition tier applies. Additional state and federal financial aid, including Pell Grants and Indiana’s Frank O’Bannon Grant for eligible students, can offset costs further for students who don’t qualify for the Workforce Ready Grant.
Indiana State Board of Nursing requirements for LPN licensure
The Indiana State Board of Nursing (ISBN), housed within the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency (PLA), regulates all nursing licensure and approves practical nursing education programs statewide. To practice as an LPN in Indiana, you must:
- Graduate from an ISBN-approved practical nursing program. Only graduates of an approved program, such as Ivy Tech’s Practical Nursing Technical Certificate, are eligible to apply for licensure by examination.
- Submit the Indiana licensure application to the Indiana Professional Licensing Agency, along with a passport-style photograph affixed with your nursing program’s seal and signed by the program’s dean or director.
- Pay the application fee, currently $50, non-refundable and paid by credit or debit card.
- Have your school submit a Certificate of Completion directly to the Board – this cannot come from the applicant and must be sent by the nursing program itself.
- Complete a fingerprint-based criminal background check as part of the application.
- Register separately with Pearson VUE for the NCLEX-PN exam, paying the $200 exam fee directly to Pearson VUE.
- Pass the NCLEX-PN. Once ISBN confirms your eligibility, Pearson VUE issues an Authorization to Test, and you schedule your exam at an in-state testing center.
One detail worth planning around: Indiana applications are considered abandoned if you don’t submit all required documentation within one year of filing, which then requires starting the application over. Indiana LPN licenses also expire on October 31 of every even-numbered year, regardless of when the license was originally issued – a fixed statewide renewal date rather than an anniversary-based one.
Indiana implemented the Nurse Licensure Compact on July 1, 2020, and is a full member state. An Indiana LPN license issued to an Indiana resident functions as a multistate compact license, valid for practice in more than 40 other NLC-member states without a separate license application – useful for LPNs near Indiana’s borders with Ohio, Kentucky, and Illinois. See our nursing compact license guide for more detail on how the compact works nationally.
LPN admission requirements in Indiana
Ivy Tech’s Practical Nursing program follows a consistent statewide admissions pattern across campuses, though individual campuses set their own cohort sizes and start dates:
- High school diploma or GED
- Completed prerequisite coursework, typically including anatomy and physiology
- TEAS entrance exam, required at most campuses – confirm the current minimum score with your target campus before registering to test
- Criminal background check and drug screen, required before clinical placements
- Current immunization records and a negative TB test
- CPR certification (BLS for Healthcare Providers through the American Heart Association)
- FAFSA completion, required to be considered for Workforce Ready Grant funding
Because Ivy Tech runs cohort-based admissions with defined start dates and limited seats per campus rather than continuous enrollment, apply well ahead of your target start date and confirm each campus’s specific testing window and application deadline directly with Ivy Tech’s admissions office.
NCLEX-PN pass rates for Indiana LPN programs
Indiana’s practical nursing programs post consistently strong first-time NCLEX-PN pass rates. Ivy Tech Sellersburg has recorded pass rates near 99% among first-time test-takers in recent reporting years, and multiple other Ivy Tech campuses – including Terre Haute, Evansville, Fort Wayne, Indianapolis, Anderson, and Bloomington – have posted first-time pass rates in the high 90s, well above the national average for practical nursing programs. Current, campus-specific pass rate data is published annually by the Indiana Commission for Higher Education; confirm the latest figures for your target campus before enrolling, since rates can shift year to year with cohort size and admissions standards.
LPN-to-RN bridge options in Indiana
Ivy Tech pairs its standalone Practical Nursing certificate with a dedicated LPN to ASN Transition track, crediting prior LPN coursework and clinical experience toward an Associate of Science in Nursing rather than requiring graduates to restart training from scratch. Because both the LPN certificate and the bridge program run through the same statewide college, Indiana LPNs who want to advance to RN licensure can often stay within the same Ivy Tech system for their next credential, simplifying transcript transfer and prerequisite alignment.
For a full breakdown of how bridge programs work nationally – ADN bridge versus direct-entry BSN versus LPN-to-BSN – see our how to become an LPN guide, which covers the full pathway from enrollment through advancement.
What Indiana LPNs earn
The Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey reported a median annual wage of approximately $52,620 for licensed practical and licensed vocational nurses in Indiana as of May 2024, below the national median of roughly $59,730 for the occupation. The Indianapolis metro reports slightly higher wages, closer to $54,200, reflecting demand from the region’s larger hospital systems and higher local cost of living relative to the rest of the state.
Entry-level Indiana LPNs typically start below the state median, while experienced LPNs in specialized or high-acuity roles, or those working for larger health systems such as IU Health or Community Health Network, can earn meaningfully more. Treat these figures as a planning baseline rather than a guarantee for any specific employer – confirm current openings and pay ranges directly with employers in your target market. For a full national breakdown of LPN pay by setting, experience level, and state, see our LPN salary guide.
LPN in Indiana vs. LPN programs in Ohio and other states in this series
If you’re comparing states rather than committing to Indiana specifically, the core credential, training length, and NCLEX-PN exam are consistent nationwide, but program structure, cost, and licensing details differ meaningfully. Indiana’s most direct comparison is its eastern neighbor, Ohio, whose programs typically run 12-18 months against Indiana’s tighter 12-month, three-semester structure. Where Georgia leans on its HOPE Career Grant and Ivy Tech leans on Indiana’s Workforce Ready Grant, both states can bring resident tuition to zero for eligible students, though Indiana’s single-college statewide system gives it a more standardized admissions and curriculum experience than states running LPN training across dozens of independent community and technical colleges. Indiana’s search difficulty for this keyword is also unusually low, reflecting less competition from national LPN-directory sites compared with larger states like Texas, Florida, and California. See our LPN programs in Ohio guide for a side-by-side comparison with Indiana’s closest neighboring pipeline.
Frequently asked questions
How long does it take to become an LPN in Indiana?
Ivy Tech’s Practical Nursing Technical Certificate runs 12 months full-time across three semesters once a student is admitted to the program. Confirm whether a program’s published length includes prerequisite coursework before comparing timelines across campuses, since prerequisites completed before admission can add time to the overall path.
How much does LPN school cost in Indiana?
For residents who qualify for Indiana’s Workforce Ready Grant, tuition at Ivy Tech is fully covered, leaving only $1,000-$2,000 in fees, uniforms, and supplies. Non-eligible in-state residents typically pay $8,000-$15,000, and out-of-state residents pay $14,000-$20,000.
Does Indiana offer free tuition for LPN programs?
Yes, for eligible residents. Practical Nursing at Ivy Tech is designated as a high-value certificate program under Indiana’s Workforce Ready Grant, which can cover tuition in full for qualifying residents who complete the FAFSA and meet residency and prior-degree requirements. Confirm current eligibility rules with Ivy Tech’s financial aid office.
Is Indiana a Nurse Licensure Compact state?
Yes. Indiana implemented the Nurse Licensure Compact on July 1, 2020, and is a full member state. An Indiana LPN license issued to a resident functions as a multistate license, valid for practice in more than 40 other NLC-member states without a separate application.
Does Ivy Tech require the TEAS exam for LPN admission?
Most Ivy Tech campuses require the TEAS entrance exam as part of Practical Nursing admissions. Minimum score requirements and testing windows can vary by campus, so confirm the current requirement directly with your target Ivy Tech location before registering to test.