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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

Nursing is the most popular major in Kentucky with 6,395 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021.

Today's healthcare students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. 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.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Healthcare Degree Search has created its Best Value Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Kentucky ranking. 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.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. 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.

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

Best Kentucky Schools for Affordable Quality for a Doctorate in Nursing

#1

Northern Kentucky University

Highland Heights, KY

Our 2023 rankings named Northern Kentucky University the best value school in Kentucky for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. NKU is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Highland Heights.

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

NKU also made our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Kentucky list, coming in at #3.

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#2

Kentucky State University

Frankfort, KY

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at Kentucky State University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value nursing schools in Kentucky. KY State is a small public school located in the distant town of Frankfort.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at KY State are $8,880 per year.

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Out of the 9 schools in Kentucky that were part of this year’s ranking, Frontier Nursing University landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the rural area of Hyden, Frontier Nursing University is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Frontier Nursing University are $20,780 a year.

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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 college with a large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Eastern are $10,200 a year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Eastern is ranked #4 for overall quality for nursing in Kentucky.

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#5

University of Kentucky

Lexington, KY

Out of the 9 schools in Kentucky that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Kentucky landed the # 5 spot on the list. 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.

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Murray State University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Kentucky ranking. Murray State is a moderately-sized public school located in the town of Murray.

Murray State graduate students pay an average of $9,882 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#7

Bellarmine University

Louisville, KY

Bellarmine University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the large city of Louisville, Bellarmine U is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Bellarmine U graduate students pay an average of $13,652 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Bellarmine U also took the #1 spot in our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Kentucky rankings.

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#8

University of Louisville

Louisville, KY

University of Louisville 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 #8 on the list. UofL is a very large public school located in the city of Louisville.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UofL are $13,725 a year.

UofL did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Kentucky list.

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#9

Western Kentucky University

Bowling Green, KY

Western Kentucky University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Kentucky ranking. WKU is a fairly 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.

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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
Florida 21,209
North Carolina 7,425
Tennessee 6,004
Georgia 7,112
West Virginia 1,771
Virginia 6,775
Alabama 7,364
Louisiana 3,502
Mississippi 2,838
South Carolina 3,296
Arkansas 2,882

Nursing is one of 30 different types of healthcare programs to choose from.

Nursing Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Registered Nursing 266,651
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing 16,104
Nursing Administration 9,838
Nursing Practice 7,992
Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing 5,092
Nursing Science 4,600
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing 2,287
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing 2,021
Nurse Anesthetist 1,936
Public Health/Community Nurse/Nursing 1,883
Critical Care Nursing 773
Geriatric Nurse/Nursing 563
School Nursing 553
Nurse Midwife/Nursing Midwifery 509
Clinical Nurse Leader 444
Clinical Nurse Specialist 419
Perioperative/Operating Room and Surgical Nurse/Nursing 331
Maternal/Child Health and Neonatal Nurse/Nursing 181
Occupational and Environmental Health Nursing 57
Emergency Room/Trauma Nursing 53
Palliative Care Nursing 14
Forensic Nursing 14

Related Major Annual Graduates
Health & Medical Administrative Services 89,359
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services 84,492
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants 84,274
Allied Health Professions 82,308
Public Health 40,596

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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