NCLEX Fee Rises to $350 in 2027

The NCLEX is getting more expensive. According to NCSBN, the US registration fee for both the NCLEX-RN and NCLEX-PN rises from $200 to $350 effective February 1, 2027. That’s a $150 increase, the fee is charged when you register with Pearson VUE, and it’s non-refundable for any reason. If you’re graduating in December 2026 or May 2027, the timing of your registration now matters in a way it didn’t before.

What exactly is changing?

Only the registration fee. Per nclex.com, the other fees stay where they are as of this writing.

Fee	Now	From Feb 1, 2027
US registration (RN or PN)	$200	$350
International scheduling fee	$150	$150
Change nursing regulatory body	$50	$50
Change exam type (RN to PN or PN to RN)	$50	$50
Refunds	None	None

The international scheduling fee is on top of registration, so a candidate testing outside the US pays $350 today and $500 after the change. The two $50 fees only apply if you registered under the wrong board or the wrong exam type, which is easy to avoid if you read the registration screen twice.

We can’t tell you why the fee is rising. NCSBN hasn’t tied it to a specific cost in anything we’ve read, and the exam itself (85 to 150 items, five hours, computer adaptive) isn’t changing alongside the price. The 2026 NCLEX-RN test plan already took effect April 1, 2026.

Who pays the new $350 fee?

Anyone who registers on or after February 1, 2027. That includes first-time candidates, repeat candidates, and candidates who let a previous registration expire and have to start over. There’s no grandfathering by graduation date or by board application date. What matters is when Pearson VUE takes your money.

The groups most affected:

• December 2026 graduates who take a few months to study. If your board application stalls and you don’t register until February, you pay the higher fee.
• May 2027 graduates, all of whom will register after the change. Budget $350 from the start.
• Retakers. Every attempt is a new registration. A candidate who fails in January 2027 and re-registers after the 45-day wait will pay $350 for the second try.

Can you lock in the $200 fee?

Partly, and this is where people overpromise. The fee is charged at registration, so a registration paid before February 1, 2027 is a $200 registration. But registration alone doesn’t get you a test date. Your board has to receive your licensure application, confirm your eligibility, and only then does Pearson VUE issue your Authorization to Test (ATT).

The ATT has a validity window that the board sets, not NCSBN, and you must test inside it. Registering in November with no board application on file doesn’t help, because a registration that never becomes eligible eventually lapses and the fee is gone. We can’t quote a universal window here; it varies by board, so check the ATT terms on your board’s page and on nclex.com before you pay.

The realistic version of “lock in $200” looks like this: December graduates should submit the board application as soon as the program releases transcripts, do fingerprinting early, and register with Pearson VUE in the same week. Our guide to getting an RN license walks through the application order. If you can’t get eligible in time, don’t register just to beat the deadline.

How does $350 change the total cost of a first license?

The NCLEX was already the single biggest line item in most states. Here’s what a first RN license costs at the cheap end and the expensive end, using our verified state data (last checked 2026), and what the same application costs once the fee changes.

Cost item	Georgia	California
Board application	$40	$300
Fingerprinting	$42	$49
NCLEX registration today	$200	$200
Total today	$282	$549
NCLEX registration from Feb 1, 2027	$350	$350
Projected total after the change	$432	$699

In Georgia the NCLEX alone will cost more than the rest of the application combined. Every other state moves up by the same $150, so a state that runs $350 to $400 today lands around $500 to $550. Fees change and boards revise their schedules, so confirm the current numbers on the state guide or the board’s site before you budget. The full 50-state breakdown is in our license cost by state ranking.

What should you do about it?

If you’re testing in the next four months, nothing changes except urgency. Finish the board application, register, test. The first-attempt price is still $200 and the pass/fail decision is the same exam.

If you’re a spring 2027 graduate, the practical move is to protect your first attempt. A retake will cost $350 plus any board re-application fee, which makes a $139 to $239 prep course look cheap by comparison. Our NCLEX prep course comparison covers the options at each price point; pricing changes often, so check the vendor before buying.

One honest caveat: a higher fee doesn’t make the exam harder, and it doesn’t change how many questions you’ll see. The passing standard for the NCLEX-RN is set at 0.00 logits through March 31, 2029, and that’s independent of what you paid to sit.

Key takeaways

• The US NCLEX registration fee rises from $200 to $350 on February 1, 2027, per NCSBN.
• The fee is charged at registration and is never refunded. Retakes pay the full fee again.
• Registering before the date only helps if your board can make you eligible before your ATT window expires.
• Other fees ($150 international scheduling, $50 to change board or exam type) are unchanged.

Ready to plan your test date? Start with our NCLEX hub for registration steps, retake rules, and results timelines.