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Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Pennsylvania

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2023 Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Pennsylvania

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

16 Colleges
$19,003 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$99,011 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Graduate Certificate School for You

Nursing is the most popular major in Pennsylvania with 11,477 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for healthcare 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.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Healthcare Degree Search has developed this Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Pennsylvania ranking. Our analysis looked at 16 schools in Pennsylvania to see which graduate certificate 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.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. 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.

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

Top 10 Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools

#1

La Salle University

Philadelphia, PA

Our 2023 rankings named La Salle University the best value school in Pennsylvania for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of Philadelphia, La Salle is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at La Salle are $1,455 a year.

Full Nursing at La Salle University Report

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Millersville University of Pennsylvania. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Pennsylvania list. Millersville is a moderately-sized public school located in the large suburb of Millersville.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Millersville are $11,934 a year.

Full Nursing at Millersville University of Pennsylvania Report

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#3

Cedar Crest College

Allentown, PA

The excellent graduate certificate programs at Cedar Crest College helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value nursing schools in Pennsylvania. Cedar Crest is a small private not-for-profit school located in the medium-sized city of Allentown.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Cedar Crest are $14,719 a year.

Cedar Crest also made our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Pennsylvania list, coming in at #4.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Clarion University of Pennsylvania. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Pennsylvania list. Clarion University is a small public school located in the remote town of Clarion.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Clarion University are $12,179 a year.

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#5

Thomas Jefferson University

Philadelphia, PA

Out of the 16 schools in Pennsylvania that were part of this year’s ranking, Thomas Jefferson University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the large city of Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson University is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

Thomas Jefferson University graduate students pay an average of $22,644 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Thomas Jefferson University also took the #3 spot in our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Pennsylvania rankings.

Full Nursing at Thomas Jefferson University Report

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#6

Gannon University

Erie, PA

Gannon University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Pennsylvania ranking. Located in the small city of Erie, Gannon is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Gannon are $20,660 per year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Gannon also is in the top 20% of our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Pennsylvania ranking.

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#7

DeSales University

Center Valley, PA

DeSales University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Pennsylvania list. Located in the rural area of Center Valley, DeSales is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at DeSales are $21,120 per year.

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#8

Villanova University

Villanova, PA

With a ranking of #8, Villanova University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. Villanova is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Villanova.

Villanova graduate students pay an average of $21,199 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Villanova is ranked #5 for overall quality for nursing in Pennsylvania.

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#9

Waynesburg University

Waynesburg, PA

With a ranking of #9, Waynesburg University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. Waynesburg is a small private not-for-profit school located in the town of Waynesburg.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Waynesburg are $16,440 a year.

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#10

Neumann University

Aston, PA

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

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Neumann are $14,690 per year.

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Best Value Nursing Colleges in the Middle Atlantic Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
New York 17,708
Maryland 4,104
New Jersey 5,648
District of Columbia 990
Delaware 1,267

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

Majors Similar to Nursing

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 16 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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