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Best Value Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

18 Colleges
$20,220 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$115,233 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Doctor's Degree School for You

Out of the majors we analyze each year, nursing was ranked 5th in California. In fact, 3,819 were awarded in the state in 2020-2021.

It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Value Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 18 schools in California to see which doctor's degree programs offered the best value experiences for nursing students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.

In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used in our calculations. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California

Check out the nursing doctor's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named California State University - Fresno the best value school in California for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the large city of Fresno, Fresno State is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Fresno State are $8,087 a year.

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A rank of #2 on this year’s list means California State University - Fullerton is a great value for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Cal State Fullerton is a very large public school located in the large suburb of Fullerton.

Cal State Fullerton graduate students pay an average of $8,410 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Nursing at California State University - Fullerton Report

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at San Jose State University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value nursing schools in California. San Jose State is a fairly large public school located in the large city of San Jose.

San Jose State graduate students pay an average of $9,286 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Point Loma Nazarene University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. PLNU is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of San Diego.

PLNU graduate students pay an average of $11,880 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its great value ranking, PLNU is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list.

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Out of the 18 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Los Angeles landed the # 5 spot on the list. UCLA is a very large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UCLA are $13,036 per year.

UCLA excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list.

Read full report on Nursing at University of California - Los Angeles

University of California - Davis ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. UC Davis is a fairly large public school located in the small suburb of Davis.

UC Davis graduate students pay an average of $13,608 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Nursing at University of California - Davis

#7

Brandman University

Irvine, CA

Brandman University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. Brandman is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Irvine.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Brandman are $12,720 per year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, Brandman also did well on our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Read full report on Nursing at Brandman University

University of California - Irvine ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. UC Irvine is a very large public school located in the city of Irvine.

UC Irvine graduate students pay an average of $13,356 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Nursing at University of California - Irvine Report

University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California ranking. USAHS is a medium-sized private for-profit school located in the suburb of San Marcos.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at USAHS are $26,247 a year.

Full Nursing at University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences Report

Azusa Pacific University ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. Azusa Pacific is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Azusa.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Azusa Pacific are $16,696 per year.

Read full report on Nursing at Azusa Pacific University

Best Value Nursing Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Nursing Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 561
Oregon 69
Nevada 211
Hawaii 46
Alaska 17

One of 29 majors within the area of study, nursing has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Medicine 28,629
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions 24,774
Public Health 19,473
Health & Medical Administrative Services 17,335
Pharmacy/Pharmaceutical Sciences 16,952

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 18 schools only.

  • The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
  • Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Aleksahgabrielle.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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