CRNA Schools in Minnesota: Four Programs, Costs & Admissions

You've got four CRNA schools in Minnesota to compare: Mayo Clinic, the University of Minnesota, Saint Mary's University of Minnesota and Minneapolis School of Anesthesia. Mayo's DNAP runs 39 months, and the other three offer three-year DNP pathways. You may run into what looks like more options than that. Saint Mary's announced a St. Cloud teaching location in 2026, and Minneapolis School of Anesthesia awards its degree through a cooperative program with Metro State University. But a new location or a university partner isn't a separate, independent school, so the count stays at four.

Compare the exact program, the entering cohort and the campus arrangement you'd actually be applying to. These four differ in application dates, experience cutoffs and how they quote cost, so it pays to look at each one on its own terms instead of squashing them into a statewide yes/no.

Which nurse anesthesia programs are located in Minnesota?

The four programs sit in Rochester, Minneapolis and St. Paul, with Saint Mary's adding its announced St. Cloud location. Each one trains you a little differently.

Program and official source	Location, degree and format	Distinction to plan around
Mayo Clinic School of Health Sciences	Rochester, full-time, 39-month DNAP	Most teaching and clinical work happens on the Rochester campus, with a required senior off-campus rotation.
University of Minnesota	Minneapolis, full-time, 36-month DNP	Campus coursework one to two days a week plus a one-week session each semester. The school arranges urban and rural clinical rotations.
Saint Mary's University of Minnesota	Minneapolis and announced St. Cloud location, three-year DNP	Mostly in-person teaching with occasional online/hybrid sessions. Confirm which location you're applying to and its assigned clinical network.
Minneapolis School of Anesthesia, MSA	St. Paul, DNP through Metro State partnership, nine semesters/78 credits	First year is didactic. Second and third years combine didactic and clinical work. Rotations reach into Minnesota, Wisconsin and Iowa.

Saint Mary's August 27, 2026 announcement says its first St. Cloud cohort was full for fall 2026, starting August 31. COA's Reports of Actions also list approval of an additional location for Saint Mary's. That announcement doesn't mean every future applicant gets to pick any location, or that every student stays in St. Cloud for every experience. Ask about the specific pathway offered in your cycle.

Which GPA and certification requirements differ?

Each Minnesota program calculates GPA its own way, and two of the four require the CCRN.

Program	GPA requirement	ICU and credential distinction
Mayo	Cumulative and science GPA at least 3.25	Two acceptable ICU years by program start. The admissions page requires AACN CCRN.
University of Minnesota	Cumulative GPA at least 3.0 from the most recently obtained degree	Current CCRN required. You need 24 months of critical care experience by August 1.
Saint Mary's	Overall GPA at least 2.75 and science/math GPA at least 3.0	One critical care year at application, with continued critical care employment until 90 days before start.
MSA	Cumulative and natural science GPAs at least 3.0	The admissions page requires one full-time-equivalent critical care year before the application deadline (two preferred), with experience within the last three years. If your first ICU year wraps up close to the deadline, confirm the cutoff with MSA.

Mayo describes a discretionary review of your last 60 cumulative and/or last 30 science credits if you fall below its standard GPA screen. You have to ask the program director for that consideration yourself. It isn't an automatic lower-GPA pathway, and it doesn't guarantee you an interview.

MSA's FAQ says outright that the GRE isn't required, and the GRE isn't among the admission requirements Mayo, UMN or Saint Mary's publish. On certification, Mayo and UMN both require a current CCRN. Saint Mary's and MSA don't list it among their admission requirements, so it's a strength there rather than a gate. If you're counting on skipping either exam, confirm it on the program's application instructions for your entry year.

Which ICU settings and reference requirements matter?

Saint Mary's counts cardiac, neuro, neonatal and pediatric ICUs as critical care. Cath lab, PACU, long-term acute care and ED fall outside its stated definition, and flight nursing gets individual consideration. MSA accepts high-level NICU/PICU experience, excludes operating room, ER and PACU experience, and looks at ground or flight transport nursing case by case.

Mayo requires two acceptable ICU years by entry, qualifying work at 0.6 FTE or more, and a year of ICU experience in the United States. If you're currently outside critical care, you need qualifying ICU experience within two years of program start. Mayo's requirements describe an "intensive care unit (ICU) setting" without listing unit types, so if you work in a pediatric, neonatal or nontraditional unit, send your actual responsibilities and dates and let the program decide.

UMN's application table lists two critical care years, met by August 1, but doesn't list accepted unit types. Its anesthesia applications closed July 15, and an experience date that falls after the application deadline doesn't push back the deadline for a complete file.

References are where these schools really split. Mayo specifies an ICU nurse manager and an ICU physician or advanced practice provider you've worked with within two years. MSA asks for four: your current critical care supervisor, a former supervisor, a nursing colleague and a physician/NP/PA colleague (with a charge-nurse alternative if you've never had a prior supervisor). Saint Mary's asks for two professional references, including your current supervisor. Line up the right people early instead of sending one generic set to every school.

Which chemistry and science requirements should you verify?

Mayo requires demonstrated ability in at least 30 basic or advanced science semester credits, including anatomy, chemistry and physiology. At least one science course has to be completed in the United States.

Saint Mary's requires a college-level chemistry course or an accepted pre-anesthesia course with at least a B, within five years of your anticipated program start. Its FAQ accepts its own DNP800 and Barry's ANE695 for that purpose. In-progress chemistry can be considered, but it may affect your application ranking. And Saint Mary's accepting those substitutions doesn't mean any other school will.

MSA requires a credit-earning chemistry course with a B or better within five years of starting the program, and no lab is required. Its FAQ allows online coursework and says you may finish chemistry after you apply, as long as it's done before classes begin. That's a different timeline from a school that wants every prerequisite finished at application.

Course-age example: say you're applying in 2027 for a 2028 start. If the school's rule counts five years back from the start date, run that math against the actual 2028 start. A course that's still inside five years on application day could be too old by enrollment. Get a written decision before you pay for a repeat course or assume an accepted pre-anesthesia course transfers to another school. Use the prerequisite guide to keep track of grade, age, lab and substitution decisions.

Which deadlines and entering cohorts should you track?

Track each school's published window together with the specific cohort it feeds, because a date only tells you something once you know which class it's for.

Program	Published timeline	What it means for you
Mayo	April 1 to June 1 in the year before enrollment, mid-September start	Applications run April 1 to June 1 in the year before you'd start.
UMN	Anesthesia applications closed July 15	The December 1, 2026 priority deadline on the same page is for other specialties and post-master's applicants, not anesthesia. UMN dates and deadlines.
Saint Mary's	September 15 for fall of the following year	Applications are due September 15 for the following fall. Confirm the location you're applying to. Saint Mary's waitlist doesn't roll over from year to year.
MSA	September 1, 2026 to August 31, 2027 for summer 2028	This cycle is open now. Follow the detailed application instructions on the admissions page.

MSA requires NursingCAS verification before the deadline and warns that verification may take up to four weeks. UMN also requires a verified, complete application by its deadline. So if you submit on closing day, you might not leave enough time for transcripts, references and verification.

UMN asks for uploads of your CCRN documentation and a synopsis of your anesthesia-provider shadowing. MSA prefers at least 24 shadowing hours and asks for a synopsis, or an explanation if you couldn't complete shadowing. That's a preference, not a hard cutoff. Mayo recommends nurse anesthesia shadowing as part of showing knowledge of the profession.

How much does CRNA school in Minnesota cost?

The cost of CRNA school in Minnesota depends on how each program bills, and the four don't quote their costs on the same basis.

Program and official cost source	Published amount or billing model	Important scope
Mayo tuition and aid	A $72,691 multi-year estimate covering tuition, fees, books and exams, plus 2026-27 first-year direct expenses of $24,430 ($796 per credit for 30 credits, plus a program fee)	Personal housing, food and transport aren't in the program figure. Mayo notes the per-credit cost isn't frozen for the whole program, so ask for the estimate that applies to your cohort.
UMN 2026-27 DNP rates	$1,207 per credit or $10,863 per semester at nine or more credits, same rate for residents and nonresidents	Use the School of Nursing DNP row. Your credits per term and required fees decide your actual total. This isn't a fixed three-year quote.
Saint Mary's 2026-27 graduate schedule	DNP tuition $1,120 per credit for an 86-credit program, about $96,320 in tuition at that rate	Separate technology, registration, assessment, simulation and clinical fees apply. The per-credit rate doesn't include those fees, and it isn't a guaranteed total for every term of a future cohort.
MSA general information	For students accepted before May 2026, Metro State tuition/fees plus MSA fees of $15,900 annually	Ask MSA and Metro State for the combined charges that apply to the summer 2028 cohort.

Mayo's benchmark sheet says the cost per semester credit "is not frozen for the entire length of the program" and may change yearly, and it tells you to contact the program for the most recent estimate. Ask which rates, credits and fees apply to your admission year before you budget.

At MSA, the $1,500 matriculation fee goes toward miscellaneous fees and equipment. It's explicitly not tuition, so don't subtract it from a tuition estimate. At all four programs, get the full fee list and a clinical-travel plan before you compare how much you'll need to finance. And keep in mind that an aid cost-of-attendance budget can include living allowances that aren't university bills.

How do campus attendance and clinical geography affect your plan?

Mayo keeps most teaching and clinical work in Rochester. It requires an eight-to-ten-week off-campus rotation during the last 12 months and provides furnished housing for that rotation. That housing is for that one rotation, so don't stretch it to cover housing or travel costs across the whole degree.

UMN requires regular campus coursework plus a one-week session each semester. Saint Mary's describes mostly in-person classes, and its clinical list includes sites in both Minnesota and Wisconsin. The newer St. Cloud arrangement needs its own location-specific explanation. Don't assume every student's pattern there matches Minneapolis.

Fair warning: MSA's clinical network spans three states, and its admissions page requires Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin nursing licenses before second-year clinical rotations, maintained throughout the program. Expect travel outside the Twin Cities, and it may add costs. A St. Paul school address doesn't promise a local-only clinical schedule.

What do accreditation and graduate outcomes show?

All four hold continued accreditation in the COA directory. The Reports of Actions add useful context. Mayo received two years of continued accreditation effective October 23, 2024, with a required progress report and a fall 2026 review. MSA received two years effective May 20, 2025, with a required progress report and spring 2027 consideration. Neither published action is a closure notice. Ask about the latest action and where the progress report stands, instead of reading an outcome into a scheduled review date.

Outcome years and definitions need care too:

• Mayo's December 2025 cohort reports 83% first-time NCE passage and 0% attrition.
• UMN reports a 2026 first-time NCE pass rate of 100%.
• Saint Mary's class of 2026 reached a 94% first-time NCE pass rate. Keep the class year attached to its number.
• MSA reports its 2026 cohort's first-time NCE at 88% and attrition at 4%.

Use these numbers to ask better questions about preparation and student support. They can't produce a statewide winner when the years don't match and first-time and repeat pass rates get mixed together.

How should you narrow your Minnesota list?

Compare GPA calculations, the date your ICU experience has to be complete, chemistry recency and certification timing before you pick an application cycle. Then confirm the teaching location, the clinical travel and the current price for your cohort. In Minnesota, those details can reshape a shortlist more than the degree initials ever will.

Start with the program directory. If a different location fits your calendar or your family better, compare specific programs in Wisconsin, Iowa, North Dakota or South Dakota. Check where those programs actually train, though, because a neighboring state doesn't automatically give you a workable commute. Four programs is a small enough list to research properly, so take it one school at a time.