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Best Value Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Kentucky

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2023 Best Value Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Kentucky

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

9 Colleges
$12,489 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$115,233 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Doctor's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, nursing students earned 2,017 degrees and certificates from a Kentucky school, making the subject the 2nd in the state.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Grad Degree Search has created the Best Value Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Kentucky to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 9 schools in Kentucky 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.

This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

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

2023 Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Kentucky

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Nursing Doctor's Degree Colleges.

Best Kentucky Schools for Affordable Quality for a Doctorate in Nursing

#1

Northern Kentucky University

Highland Heights, KY

Our analysis found Northern Kentucky University to be the best value school for nursing students who want to pursue a doctor’s degree in Kentucky. NKU is a large public school located in the large suburb of Highland Heights.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at NKU are $10,284 a year.

Read More…

#2

Kentucky State University

Frankfort, KY

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Kentucky State University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Kentucky list. KY State is a small public school located in the distant town of Frankfort.

KY State graduate students pay an average of $8,880 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Nursing at Kentucky State University

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at Frontier Nursing University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value nursing schools in Kentucky. Located in the rural area of Hyden, Frontier Nursing University is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Frontier Nursing University are $20,780 per year.

Read full report on Nursing at Frontier Nursing University

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Eastern Kentucky University is a great value for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the distant town of Richmond, Eastern is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Eastern are $10,200 per year.

Read full report on Nursing at Eastern Kentucky University

#5

University of Kentucky

Lexington, KY

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of Kentucky helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value nursing schools in Kentucky. UK is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Lexington.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UK are $13,674 per year.

UK also made our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Kentucky list, coming in at #4.

Full Nursing at University of Kentucky Report

Murray State 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 #6 on the list. Murray State is a moderately-sized public school located in the town of Murray.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Murray State are $9,882 a year.

Read More…

#7

Bellarmine University

Louisville, KY

With a ranking of #7, Bellarmine University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the large city of Louisville, Bellarmine U is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Bellarmine U are $13,652 per year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Bellarmine U is ranked #2 for overall quality for nursing in Kentucky.

Read More…

#8

University of Louisville

Louisville, KY

University of Louisville landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value doctor’s degree nursing programs. UofL is a very large public school located in the city of Louisville.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UofL are $13,725 per year.

UofL not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #5 on our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Kentucky list.

Full Nursing at University of Louisville Report

#9

Western Kentucky University

Bowling Green, KY

Western Kentucky 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 #9 on the list. WKU is a large public school located in the small city of Bowling Green.

WKU graduate students pay an average of $12,140 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Nursing at Western Kentucky University Report

Best Value Nursing Colleges in the Southeast Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Virginia 1,110
Florida 3,074
Georgia 1,685
North Carolina 1,399
Tennessee 1,589
Louisiana 520
Alabama 2,641
South Carolina 468
Mississippi 262
Arkansas 299
West Virginia 184

Nursing is one of 29 different types of programs to choose from.

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 9 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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