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Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Far Western US Region

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2023 Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Far Western US Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

21 Colleges
$23,464 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$99,011 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Graduate Certificate School for You

Nursing is the most popular major in the United States with 26,717 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021.

With all the healthcare programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Healthcare Degree Search has created the Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Far Western US Region to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 21 schools in the Far Western US Region to see which ones offered the best value graduate certificate programs for nursing students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

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. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Far Western US Region

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for nursing majors pursuing a graduate certificate.

Top 10 Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools

Our analysis found West Coast University - Orange County to be the best value school for nursing students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in the Far Western US Region . West Coast University - Orange County is a small private for-profit school located in the city of Anaheim.

West Coast University - Orange County graduate students pay an average of $10,989 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Nursing at West Coast University - Orange County

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Point Loma Nazarene University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Far Western US Region 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 tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Nursing at Point Loma Nazarene University

#3

Mount Saint Mary's University

Los Angeles, CA

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Mount Saint Mary’s University is a great value for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of Los Angeles, MSMU is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at MSMU are $13,099 per year.

Full Nursing at Mount Saint Mary’s University Report

#4

Brandman University

Irvine, CA

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Brandman University is a great value for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. Brandman is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Irvine.

Brandman graduate students pay an average of $12,720 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Nursing at Brandman University

#4

National University

La Jolla, CA

The excellent graduate certificate programs at National University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value nursing schools in the Far Western US Region . Located in the large city of La Jolla, National University is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at National University are $15,480 per year.

National University also claimed a spot on our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Far Western US Region list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools in this category.

Read full report on Nursing at National University

#6

Seattle University

Seattle, WA

Seattle University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Far Western US Region list. Located in the city of Seattle, Seattle U is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Seattle U are $14,310 a year.

Read full report on Nursing at Seattle University

With a ranking of #7, California State University - Dominguez Hills did quite well on this year’s best value schools for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. CSUDH is a large public school located in the city of Carson.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at CSUDH are $17,998 a year.

Read full report on Nursing at California State University - Dominguez Hills

California State University - Long Beach came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. CSULB is a very large public school located in the city of Long Beach.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at CSULB are $17,784 per year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, CSULB also did well on our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Far Western US Region list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Read full report on Nursing at California State University - Long Beach

With a ranking of #9, University of Phoenix - California did quite well on this year’s best value schools for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. UOPX - California is a small private for-profit school located in the midsize city of Costa Mesa.

UOPX - California graduate students pay an average of $16,188 in tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

Western University of Health Sciences landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate nursing programs. Located in the large suburb of Pomona, Western University of Health Sciences is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Western University of Health Sciences are $22,709 per year.

Read More…

Best Nursing Colleges by State

Explore the best nursing schools for a specific state in the Far Western US region.

State Degrees Awarded
Oregon 1,502
California 18,329
Washington 3,851
Nevada 2,015
Hawaii 535
Alaska 177

One of 30 majors within the healthcare area of study, nursing has other similar majors worth exploring.

Nursing Concentrations

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 21 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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