Four Louisiana institutions offer nutrition or dietetics degrees. Resident tuition and fees run from $8,810 at Nicholls State to $12,472 at LSU, against a state average near $9,622. Non-residents at LSU pay about $29,148.
The decisive difference is supervised practice. Three of the four schools — Louisiana Tech, Nicholls State, and Southern — run their own dietetic internship; LSU runs none and sends its graduates elsewhere. Accreditation status varies by school and even by program at the same school: Nicholls’ own pages disagree on whether its internship holds full accreditation or candidate status, and Southern’s undergraduate Dietetics program is on ACEND probationary status. Every dietitian and nutritionist practising in Louisiana must be licensed by the state board.
Nutrition Programs in Louisiana — Comparison Table
| School | Credentials | Est. Cost | Format | RD Pathway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louisiana Tech University Ruston |
BS Nutrition and Dietetics, RD concentration — accredited DPD Dietetic internship — accredited, post-baccalaureate, includes a graduate certificate MS Nutrition and Dietetics |
$11,400 resident | Campus; internship coursework online and hybrid | Yes — one of three schools in Louisiana running its own dietetic internship |
| Nicholls State University Thibodaux |
BS Dietetics — accredited DPD MS Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics — 36 semester hours |
$8,810 resident | Campus | Yes — didactic; Nicholls also runs its own internship, with a pre-select track for its own graduates |
| Louisiana State University Baton Rouge |
BS Nutrition and Food Sciences — dietetics concentration is the accredited DPD; also nutritional sciences/pre-medical, nutrition health and society, and food science MS Nutrition and Food Sciences — 30 credits, thesis |
$12,472 resident $29,148 non-resident |
Campus | Yes — didactic only; LSU offers no supervised practice programme |
| Southern University and A&M College Baton Rouge |
BS Family and Consumer Sciences — four concentrations: Dietetics (accredited DPD, ACEND probationary status), Food Management, Nutrition Health and Wellness, Nutrition and Health Informatics Dietetic internship — Southern’s own program, accredited, up to 12 interns/year |
$9,959 resident | Campus, HBCU | Yes, but DPD is on ACEND probationary status; the internship’s 12 graduate credits do not alone satisfy the 2024 master’s requirement |
Figures are 2025–26 resident tuition and fees at 15 credit hours, from Louisiana Board of Regents comparisons and LSU’s own published rates, excluding housing. Louisiana Tech operates on quarters rather than semesters, so per-term figures differ. Verify current rates and accreditation status before applying.
Which Louisiana Nutrition Program Fits You
Choose Louisiana Tech if you want the whole route at one university. It runs an accredited undergraduate programme, an accredited post-baccalaureate internship, and a master’s. The internship uses online and hybrid coursework so interns can earn the master’s while completing supervised practice, and it accepts applicants who already hold advanced degrees.
Choose Nicholls State if cost is the binding constraint. At $8,810 in resident tuition and fees it is the least expensive accredited route in Louisiana, roughly $3,700 below LSU, and it pairs the accredited bachelor’s with a clinical nutrition master’s.
Choose LSU if you want breadth or a research master’s. Its Nutrition and Food Sciences degree runs four concentrations, only one of which is the accredited dietetics route, so it also serves pre-medical and food science students. Be clear that LSU does not provide supervised practice.
Choose Southern if you want open admission and the lowest sticker price, or a food-management/HBCU community focus. Its Dietetics concentration and its own Dietetic Internship are both ACEND-related, but the DPD carries probationary status and the internship’s 12 graduate credits do not by themselves satisfy the 2024 master’s requirement. Verify current status directly with the department before relying on this as your RD route.
Louisiana Nutrition Schools
Louisiana Tech University
Louisiana Tech in Ruston runs nutrition through the School of Biological Sciences in its College of Applied and Natural Sciences, and holds two separate ACEND accreditations.
- BS Nutrition and Dietetics, registered dietitian concentration — accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics
- Dietetic internship — accredited, post-baccalaureate, incorporating a graduate certificate in dietetics
- MS Nutrition and Dietetics
The internship is the reason to look here. Online and hybrid coursework during the internship lets students earn a master’s while completing supervised practice, which addresses the 2024 graduate degree requirement in one step. The programme also accepts applicants who already hold advanced degrees or graduate credits, so it serves career changers as well as new graduates. Tech describes it as cost-effective both academically and geographically.
One caution matters more than anything else on this page. Louisiana Tech states explicitly that its three programmes operate autonomously, and that completing the undergraduate degree does not guarantee entry into the internship or the master’s. Students must apply and be admitted separately after finishing the didactic programme. Tech reports a 96 percent RD exam pass rate within a year, which is a school-published figure worth asking about with the reporting period attached.
Nicholls State University
Nicholls State in Thibodaux, in the bayou region southwest of New Orleans, offers dietetics through its Department of Allied Health Sciences.
- BS Dietetics — accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics
- Dietetic Internship, Graduate Certificate — Nicholls’ own program; ACEND status disputed between the program’s own pages (full accreditation vs. candidate status)
- MS Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics — 36 semester hours, clinical and leadership focus, 100% online
Nicholls is the cheapest accredited route in the state and runs its own dietetic internship alongside the didactic bachelor’s and a clinical master’s, so a student can potentially satisfy coursework, supervised practice, and the graduate-degree requirement without leaving Thibodaux. Up to half of the internship’s 14 annual seats are pre-selected for Nicholls’ own DPD graduates; the rest are matched nationally.
The university confirms that its dietetics curriculum meets the bachelor’s-level educational requirements for licensure by the Louisiana Board of Examiners in Dietetics and Nutrition, and that graduates earn the verification statement needed to apply for an internship. Its published figure that 80 percent of graduates rate the programme’s preparation as satisfactory or better is an ACEND objective drawn from an alumni survey, not an outcome measure — ask for actual placement data.
Louisiana State University
LSU houses nutrition in the School of Nutrition and Food Sciences within its College of Agriculture in Baton Rouge.
- BS Nutrition and Food Sciences — with dietetics, nutritional sciences and pre-medical, nutrition health and society, and food science concentrations
- MS Nutrition and Food Sciences — 30 credits with a thesis, research-oriented
Only the dietetics concentration is accredited. The other three lead to medicine, research, food industry work, or public health rather than the credential, and the degree title does not distinguish them — confirm which concentration you are entering.
The critical fact is stated on LSU’s own pages: it does not currently offer a supervised practice programme. Graduates of the accredited dietetics concentration must apply to an accredited internship at another institution. LSU also notes that students who complete the knowledge requirements without entering an internship are qualified to sit the dietetic technician exam, which is a real fallback given how competitive placements are.
Southern University and A&M College
Southern University in Baton Rouge is Louisiana’s public HBCU, offering nutrition within Family and Consumer Sciences.
- BS Family and Consumer Sciences — four concentrations: Dietetics (accredited DPD, currently on ACEND probationary status), Food Management, Nutrition Health and Wellness, and Nutrition and Health Informatics
- Dietetic Internship — Southern’s own program, accredited (no probationary qualifier on its own page), admitting up to 12 interns a year
Southern runs its own dietetic internship, one of three in the state, though its Dietetics concentration currently carries ACEND probationary status rather than full accreditation, and the internship’s 12 graduate credits do not by themselves satisfy the 2024 master’s-degree requirement. Food Management is the non-clinical concentration, pointing toward food service operations, hospitality, and community programmes rather than clinical practice.
Southern’s own pages disagree internally on the internship’s length (nine months in one section, eighteen in another) and required supervised-practice hours (1,200 vs. 1,084). Confirm current details directly with the department before relying on this page alone.
How to Choose a Nutrition Program in Louisiana
Three schools supply supervised practice; one does not
Louisiana Tech, Nicholls State, and Southern each run their own dietetic internship; LSU runs none and sends its DPD graduates elsewhere. That still leaves real gaps: Nicholls’ internship carries disputed ACEND status on the program’s own pages, Southern’s DPD is on ACEND probationary status and its internship does not by itself supply the master’s degree now required, and none of the three guarantees admission to its own school’s undergraduates except Nicholls’ partial pre-select track. Apply broadly, including out of state, regardless of which Louisiana school you attend.
Check which concentration carries the accreditation
LSU runs four concentrations under one degree title and only one is accredited. Southern’s nutrition concentrations sit inside a Family and Consumer Sciences degree. In both cases the degree name will not tell you whether you finish with a verification statement, so confirm with an advisor before enrolling rather than after.
The technician credential is a genuine fallback
LSU notes that students who complete the dietetics knowledge requirements without entering an internship qualify to sit the dietetic technician exam. In a state where every available internship caps its seats, that route deserves consideration rather than being treated as a failure outcome, particularly since the 2024 rules made the RDN route substantially longer.
The master’s requirement changed in 2024
Since January 1, 2024, the Commission on Dietetic Registration has required a master’s degree in any field, plus a verification statement from an ACEND-accredited programme, to sit for the RDN exam, along with 1,200 hours of supervised practice. Louisiana Tech’s internship builds the master’s in directly; Nicholls’ master’s is offered separately but can be taken concurrently with its internship; Southern’s internship supplies only 12 graduate credits, not a full master’s, so a Southern graduate needs a separate master’s degree from elsewhere; and LSU’s master’s is research-oriented rather than a dietetics degree, useful only if paired with an internship completed elsewhere.
Nutrition Licensure and Credentials in Louisiana
Louisiana requires licensure to practise. Nicholls State states plainly that all dietitians and nutritionists practising in the state must be licensed by the Louisiana Board of Examiners in Dietetics and Nutrition, and LSU notes the board grants and enforces licensure for both registered dietitians and dietetic technicians.
The national CDR requirements apply alongside — an ACEND verification statement, a master’s degree, supervised practice hours, and a passing exam score. Note that Louisiana licenses dietetic technicians as well as dietitians, which not every state does. Confirm current requirements with the board before relying on them.
Before applying anywhere in Louisiana, verify three things directly with the school: which concentration within a broader degree carries the accreditation, since LSU and Southern both house nutrition inside larger majors; the current ACEND status of whichever internship you are counting on, since two of the state’s three in-state internships carry disputed or probationary status on the schools’ own pages; and whether that internship supplies the master’s degree CDR now requires, since only Louisiana Tech’s does so directly and Nicholls’ does so when paired with its own M.S.
Full profiles for all four Louisiana schools: