Nursing Education eXchange (NEXus), a course exchange program designed for a consortium of doctoral programs in nursing, is a response to the long-term fiscal, faculty personnel, and curricular realities faced by all schools of nursing in this country. Whereas the demand for nursing education is growing, the nursing professoriate is shrinking and public funding for nursing education is declining. In this environment it may not be feasible for one university to offer all the support courses students may need. NEXus is a practical alternative model for delivering courses and utilizing faculty expertise. This symposium describes milestones along the collaborative journey of NEXus, a partnership among select universities offering doctoral programs in nursing (PhD and DNP). The four papers in this symposium provide a description of the creation and evolution of the program. The first paper describes the initial development of the consortium, which focused on those offering a PhD. The NEXus collaborative makes courses available by distance to students enrolled in other academic collaborating institutions supported by a strong administrative model and common course pricing. The second paper focuses on growth of the program, including the expansion to the DNP. NEXus provides a cost effective way to facilitate doctoral education to meet current and future needs of nursing education, research, and practice. The third paper is a report on the systematic evaluation of the project, both the methodology and the results. Formative evaluation and best practices have informed the collaborative journey and offer strategies especially useful in a time of nurse educator and nursing shortages. The final paper will present future plans for the program, based upon recommendations from the systematic evaluation. A growing demand for nurse educators, researchers and clinicians in a time of economic and workforce shortages necessitate collaboration and innovative approaches to nursing education. The NEXus collaborative is an effective model for enhancing quality doctoral education.