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Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Kentucky

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2023 Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Kentucky

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

6 Colleges
$13,733 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$99,011 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Graduate Certificate 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 Graduate Certificate Schools in Kentucky ranking. Our analysis looked at 6 schools in Kentucky 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.

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.

2023 Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Kentucky

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Colleges.

Best Kentucky Schools for Affordable Quality for a Postbaccalaureate Certificates in Nursing

Our analysis found Eastern Kentucky University to be the best value school for nursing students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in Kentucky. Located in the distant town of Richmond, Eastern is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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

Eastern also took the #3 spot in our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Kentucky rankings.

Read full report on Nursing at Eastern Kentucky University

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Frontier Nursing University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Kentucky list. Located in the rural area of Hyden, Frontier Nursing University is a private not-for-profit school 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.

Read full report on Nursing at Frontier Nursing University

#3

Northern Kentucky University

Highland Heights, KY

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Northern Kentucky University. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Kentucky list. NKU is a 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 not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #4 on our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Kentucky list.

Read full report on Nursing at Northern Kentucky University

#4

University of Kentucky

Lexington, KY

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means University of Kentucky is a great value for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. UK is a very large public school located in the city of Lexington.

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

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, UK is ranked #1 for overall quality for nursing in Kentucky.

Read More…

#5

Western Kentucky University

Bowling Green, KY

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Western Kentucky University is a great value for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. WKU is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Bowling Green.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at WKU are $12,140 a year.

WKU also took the #2 spot in our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Kentucky rankings.

Read More…

#6

University of Louisville

Louisville, KY

With a ranking of #6, University of Louisville did quite well on this year’s best value schools for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. UofL is a very large public school located in the city of Louisville.

UofL graduate students pay an average of $13,725 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

UofL not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #5 on our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Kentucky list.

Full Nursing at University of Louisville 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
Florida 21,209
North Carolina 7,425
Tennessee 6,004
Georgia 7,112
West Virginia 1,771
Virginia 6,775
Louisiana 3,502
Mississippi 2,838
South Carolina 3,296
Alabama 7,364
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 6 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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