Top Online Psychiatric-Mental Health NP Programs (2024)

“PMH nurses are strategically poised to lend emotional support to patients and colleagues while thinking more broadly about the changes occurring in service delivery.”

The Mental Health Implications of COVID-19, Journal of the American Psychiatric Nurses Association (Aug. 2020)

Psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners (PMHNPs) play an essential role in patient care in the United States. PMHNPs serve populations across the lifespan with their mental health needs, including patient education and disease prevention.

Psychiatric-mental health nurses are RNs who have completed an advanced master’s (MSN) or doctoral degree (DNP) specializing in psychopharmacology and psychotherapy, earning them the title of APRN or advanced practice registered nurse. Most typically, these PMH-APRNs are PMHNPs (APNA, 2023).

PMHNPs can provide mental health assessments and prescribe treatments. They can specialize in gerontology, substance abuse, or holistic, integrated nursing. PMHNPs are expected to be in high demand due to decreased social stigma around mental health, expanded healthcare access, and stressful world events.

According to the American Psychological Association, mental health awareness has recently become more normalized, partly thanks to celebrities and influencers sharing their struggles on social media. In addition to increased awareness, the Minority Nurse lists the top four reasons for increased demand for psychiatric nurse practitioners:

  • Expanded access to care with the Affordable Care Act in 2010
  • PTSD treatment for veterans
  • Caring for aging Baby Boomers
  • Forecasted demand for APRNs

A survey published by the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) corroborates this, saying the top four diagnoses psychiatric mental health NPs treat are depression, anxiety, insomnia, and dementia. 

Aspiring psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioners must earn a master of science in nursing (MSN), post-master’s certificate (PMC), or doctor of nursing practice (DNP). For nearly a decade, nursing communities have called for DNP degrees to become the standard requirement for nurse practitioners; however, this standard has not yet been adopted.  An advanced degree in nursing, meaning an MSN or DNP degree, coupled with a PMHNP specialization is the current educational standard for PMHNPs.

Most online PMHNP programs offer flexibility in learning with online coursework, a minimal number of campus visits for immersions/intensives, and preceptorships local to the student. Since requirements vary from program to program, we have built out full-page school profiles to more thoroughly detail what to expect. We update these yearly. Click on a school name in the rankings table below to view its profile.

Online PMHNP Program Rankings (2023-2024)

The online psychiatric-mental health NP programs listed here are ranked by a combination of cost, admissions flexibility, and program variety. They are drawn from an in-depth database comprising 1,035 online NP programs at the MSN, DNP, and post-master’s certificate levels, representing what we believe to be a comprehensive list of online PMHNP programs entering the 2023-2024 academic year.

For our purposes, a program must require no more than nine campus visits in total to qualify for inclusion as an online program.

At NPSchools.com, we seek to ensure the accuracy of the data on our website. Should you wish to report a new program, missing program, or informational error, please contact us to bring it to our attention.

The NPSchools.com AdvanceU score measures a school’s Commitment to helping RNs become APRNs online.

Score
School Program Tuition
(Resident)
Tuition
(Non-Resident)
72 University of South Alabama(#1)
Post-Graduate Certificate – Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner $19,602.00 $19,602.00
MSN – Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner (post-BSN) $26,730.00 $26,730.00
DNP – Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner (MSN to DNP) $35,640.00 $35,640.00
MSN – Psychiatric NP (RN-to-MSN for RNs with a non-nursing bachelor's degree) $36,828.00 $36,828.00
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DNP – Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner (BSN to DNP) $40,986.00 $40,986.00
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66 Northern Kentucky University(#2)
Post-Master's Family Psychiatric Nurse Practitioner Certificate $18,700.00 $18,700.00
MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner $25,300.00 $25,300.00
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66 Maryville University(#3)
Post-Master's Certificate – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner $31,844.00 $31,844.00
MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner $41,900.00 $41,900.00
DNP – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner $65,462.00 $65,462.00
BSN to DNP – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner $70,994.00 $70,994.00
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66 University of Nevada Reno(#4)
Post-Master's Certificate – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (for APRNs) $7,607.25 $11,845.00
Post-Master's Certificate – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (for Non-APRNs) $9,591.75 $14,935.00
MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner $15,876.00 $24,720.00
BSN to DNP – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner $23,814.00 $37,080.00
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Show Fewer Programs (-)
65 Walden University(#5)
Post-Master's Certificate – PMHNP $32,250.00 $32,250.00
MSN – Psychiatric-Mental Health NP – BSN route $47,250.00 $47,250.00
MSN – Psychiatric-Mental Health NP – ADN route $58,039.57 $58,039.57
MSN to DNP – Psychiatric-Mental Health NP $69,599.70 $69,599.70
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BSN to DNP – Psychiatric-Mental Health NP $74,400.20 $74,400.20
Show Fewer Programs (-)
64 Regis College(#6)
Post-Master's FNP Certificate – for NPs (second specialty) $18,905.00 $18,905.00
Post-Master's PMHNP Certificate – for MSN-prepared non-NPs $39,800.00 $39,800.00
MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner $48,755.00 $48,755.00
MSN to DNP – PMHNP – for MSN-prepared non-NPs $58,255.00 $58,255.00
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MSN to DNP – PMHNP – for NPs (second specialty) $58,255.00 $58,255.00
MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner – BA route $63,680.00 $63,680.00
MS to DNP – PMHNP – for RNs with Non-Nursing Master's $69,715.00 $69,715.00
BSN to DNP – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner $72,580.00 $72,580.00
MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner – ADN route $140,295.00 $140,295.00
Show Fewer Programs (-)
62 Texas Tech University(#7)
Post-Master's Psychiatric Mental Health NP Certificate $10,991.00 $18,212.00
MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Track $18,571.00 $30,772.00
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62 Saint Joseph\'s College of Maine(#8)
Post-Master's Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP Certificate $20,490.00 $20,490.00
MSN – Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner $28,686.00 $28,686.00
MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner $28,686.00 $28,686.00
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61 Spring Arbor University(#9)
Post-Master's Certificate – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner $16,107.00 $16,107.00
MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner $38,350.00 $38,350.00
MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (ADN bridge) $59,699.75 $59,699.75
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60 West Coast University(#10)
Post-Master's Certificate – Psychiatric Mental Health NP $25,120.00 $25,120.00
MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner $38,905.18 $38,905.18
MSN – Psychiatric Mental Health NP (ADN bridge) $47,260.00 $47,260.00
Show Fewer Programs (-)

Psychiatric Mental Health NP Career and Salary

According to the Psychiatric-Mental Health Nurse Practitioner Competencies from the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties, PMHNPs must know how to:

  • Perform comprehensive physical and mental health assessments, psychiatric evaluations, and family assessments
  • Identify factors that affect mental health including trauma, environment, family, genetics, coping skills, culture, gender, socioeconomic status, spiritual beliefs, cognition, substance abuse, developmental stage, and others
  • Interpret diagnostic and lab tests
  • Diagnose psychiatric disorders
  • Develop treatment plans and recommend therapeutic interventions
  • Prescribe psychotropic medications and other types of medications necessary for the improvement of their patients

The psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner field attracts about 6.5 percent of those studying to become nurse practitioners (American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP), 2023). The median wage for nurse practitioners falls at $121,610 (BLS, 2022).

The majority of PMHNPs work in psychiatric-mental health care facilities. Other prominent PMHNP work environments include hospitals, treatment facilities, private practice, and schools and educational facilities.

With an expected nurse practitioner job growth of 45 percent between 2022 and 2032, which is well above the national average growth rate of 3 percent, over 118,600 new jobs should open up for NPs (BLS, 2022).