CRNA Schools in Maine: UNE Admissions, Tuition & Training

For CRNA schools in Maine, you've got one option: the University of New England in Portland, the only Maine-based entry-to-practice nurse anesthesia program in the current COA directory. Its DNP runs on a 36-month, full-time schedule, with an online opening phase, required campus attendance and clinical placements across New England. When there's only one school to look at, a statewide "best school" label doesn't help much. What you need to know is whether you meet its requirements and whether you can handle the travel.

UNE's current requirements include an 18-month experience minimum, separate cumulative and science GPA screens, a very specific upper-division biochemistry requirement and a Fall 2027 application cycle. UNE program, COA directory

What should you know about UNE's nurse anesthesia pathway?

Item	Current information	What it means for you
Degree and location	DNP in Nurse Anesthesia; Portland Campus for the Health Sciences	Use the anesthesia specialty, rather than another nursing doctorate
Length and opening phase	36 months full time; first two semesters online with one or two long campus weekends per semester	Online coursework still includes required Portland attendance
Later teaching	Campus-based phase followed by clinical training and advanced coursework	An unchanged home location or work schedule isn't guaranteed
Clinical footprint	Multiple New England states	Ask about assignments, licensing, temporary housing and transport
Application	Fall 2027 cycle: August 7, 2026 to February 1, 2027	Keep the NursingCAS document and completion rules beside the deadline
Accreditation	Continued COA accreditation through fall 2031	A future review date isn't an automatic closure date

Start with the UNE profile, then keep the official checklist and cost worksheet right next to your shortlist.

Which degree, GPA and coursework requirements apply?

UNE accepts a nursing bachelor's degree or higher, or an associate nursing degree combined with a science-related Bachelor of Science. Its admissions page requires a cumulative GPA of at least 3.0 and a science GPA of at least 3.0. The degree and nursing-program accreditation rules still apply, so clearing one number doesn't make you fully eligible.

Biochemistry has the most detailed rule. It has to be upper division (300 level or above), three to four semester credits, with a B or better. A B-minus doesn't qualify. It also has to be within five years of the application deadline, and community-college coursework won't satisfy it. Statistics requires three semester credits with a C or better, and a C-minus doesn't count.

Your courses can be planned or in progress when you apply, but they have to be finished before the application deadline. UNE accepts online prerequisites from regionally accredited institutions. If you're unsure about a biochemistry course's level, content or equivalency, send it in for review before you enroll. UNE academic requirements

Say you're a nurse with an acceptable overall GPA and an older introductory biochemistry class. You still need to check both the course level and the recency, because a higher cumulative GPA doesn't waive either one. Use the prerequisite planning guide to keep your transcript questions organized for each target program.

Which ICU experience and certifications should you document?

UNE requires 18 months of qualifying critical care nursing experience, completed before you submit the application, with two or more years recommended. Its current checklist says that experience has to be in the United States. It lists ICU, CCU, CVICU, SICU, MICU, NICU, PICU and neuro ICU. Emergency room, critical care transport, cath lab, PACU and operating room experience don't fulfill the requirement.

Notice how that submission-time rule works differently from the prerequisite rule, where you can finish a course by the deadline. If you're still working toward 18 months, wait to submit until you've reached it, even if the cycle is still open.

The checklist requires an unencumbered RN license and copies of your ACLS and PALS certification. It encourages at least one day of CRNA shadowing in the operating room, documented in NursingCAS. Neither the GRE nor the CCRN is among UNE's listed admission requirements. UNE application checklist

What does the Fall 2027 application require?

The published cycle opened August 7, 2026 and closes February 1, 2027 through NursingCAS. You'll need official transcripts from every college or university you attended. You also need three recommendations, including one from your immediate acute-care supervisor or manager documenting how long you've worked there. The other letters should speak to your clinical and professional skills, and friends and family can't write them.

UNE releases admission decisions on a rolling basis after the application deadline, so submitting early doesn't bring an early decision. Interviews are required and by invitation only, during the winter and spring before the fall start. If you want to know how review and interview invitations are sequenced, ask the program (worth a phone call).

Treat February 1 as the date your NursingCAS application has to be complete, and leave room for transcripts and letters to arrive and be verified before then. Paying or hitting submit doesn't mean every required document is complete. UNE current admissions instructions

If you're reapplying, you have to resubmit the materials required for the new cycle. The admissions FAQ also says coursework updates after submission aren't verified and don't change calculated GPAs. So a later grade won't automatically fix the GPA in the version that's already been reviewed.

How much does nurse anesthesia school at UNE cost?

UNE's 2026-2027 cost worksheet uses $1,830 per credit. Its four displayed cost columns hold 38, 41, 17 and four credits, for 100 credits total. If the rate stayed the same, tuition would total $183,000. The table's direct-cost figures add up to $191,515, including the listed general service fees, program fees and malpractice coverage. These are projections from the current schedule, before future increases and indirect expenses. UNE tuition and financial aid

Category	What the 2026-2027 worksheet shows	What to ask
Tuition	$1,830 per credit, using 2026-2027 rates	Actual cohort plan and future increases
Direct charges	Four displayed totals: $71,235, $78,130, $34,210 and $7,940	How the four academic-year columns map to the 36-month sequence
Indirect allowances	Living, transportation, personal and clinical-rotation expenses	Your actual housing, travel and enrollment months
Insurance	Coverage required unless comparable insurance is approved for waiver	The premium for each year you'll be enrolled

Four cost columns don't prove the program lasts four full years. And you shouldn't drop the last column to squeeze the budget into three. Ask for a semester-by-semester explanation for your entering cohort.

The worksheet budgets living expenses at $2,250 per month and transportation at $400 per month. Those are financial-aid allowances. They don't promise your actual rent or rotation travel will fit inside them. The worksheet also lists books, equipment, exam and compliance expenses, and the program pays for some of those items, so ask which are already included before you add them again.

Tuition alone and the complete cost of attendance answer different questions. When you look at another school, compare the same cost categories.

Can you work or remain at home during the program?

UNE says you may be able to keep working during the first two semesters while coursework is online, with required long campus weekends. The shift to full-time campus teaching happens in the first summer. Once the campus phase ends in April, you start a 19-month hospital-based clinical phase. That early flexibility doesn't mean you'll have permission, or the practical capacity, to work all the way through the doctorate.

Clinical affiliates reach beyond Portland and beyond Maine. The published list includes sites in Maine, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Vermont and Rhode Island, and UNE says students take part in more than 600 anesthesia cases. A long site list doesn't guarantee you a specific placement, so ask which sites your cohort may use and who pays for travel and housing. UNE training format and clinical list

Before you choose housing, make separate plans for the online opening phase, the campus phase and your clinical assignments. And confirm any additional state nursing authorization your actual rotations require.

What do UNE's current graduate outcomes show?

UNE's official performance sheet labels 2025 as its first DNP graduating class. It reports 86% first-attempt NCE success and 4% attrition. When you compare schools, use dated class results like these. UNE accreditation and performance sheet

The sheet confirms a 36-month program and continued accreditation through fall 2031. It can't tell you a future student's odds. When you're weighing a different school, compare dated NCE definitions, attrition denominators and employment windows.

Which alternatives should you compare with UNE?

Look at individual programs in Massachusetts, Connecticut and Rhode Island, along with the national directory. Being in the same region doesn't mean their prerequisite, experience or commute requirements match UNE's.

Keep your course approvals, completed experience, document timing and a realistic clinical-travel budget together in the free School Database. With one in-state school, those details are what tell you whether applying, and eventually enrolling, really works for your life.