2023 Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
Finding the Best Nursing Graduate Certificate School for You
With 322,592 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, nursing is the #3 most popular major in the United States.
Today's 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, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 46 schools in the Great Lakes Region 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
Our analysis found Youngstown State University to be the best value school for nursing students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in the Great Lakes Region . Youngstown State University is a large public school located in the city of Youngstown.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Youngstown State University are $6,931 a year.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the large suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at SIUE are $9,316 per year.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. St. Francis Medical Center College of Nursing is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Peoria.
St. Francis Medical Center College of Nursing graduate students pay an average of $8,740 in tuition and fees each year.
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Out of the 46 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Concordia University, Wisconsin landed the # 4 spot on the list. Concordia University, Wisconsin is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Mequon.
Concordia University, Wisconsin graduate students pay an average of $11,760 in tuition and fees each year.
Concordia University, Wisconsin also claimed a spot on our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools in this category.
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A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Herzing University - Madison is a great value for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of Madison, Herzing University - Madison is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Herzing University - Madison are $11,680 a year.
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University of St Francis did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the large suburb of Joliet, University of Saint Francis is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at University of Saint Francis are $13,839 a year.
University of Saint Francis excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.
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Chamberlain University - Illinois came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in the large suburb of Addison, Chamberlain - Illinois is a private for-profit college with a very large student population.
Chamberlain - Illinois graduate students pay an average of $14,090 in tuition and fees each year.
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Illinois State University landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate nursing programs. Located in the medium-sized suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public college with a very large student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Illinois State are $11,773 per year.
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Purdue University Global landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate nursing programs. Located in the city of Indianapolis, Purdue University Global is a public school with a fairly large student population.
Purdue University Global graduate students pay an average of $10,582 in tuition and fees each year.
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Lewis University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate nursing programs. Located in the suburb of Romeoville, Lewis is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.
Lewis graduate students pay an average of $14,960 in tuition and fees each year.
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Request InformationBest Nursing Colleges by State
Explore the best nursing schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Michigan | 7,345 |
| Ohio | 13,973 |
| Illinois | 21,938 |
| Indiana | 7,922 |
| Wisconsin | 5,410 |
More Nursing Rankings in the Great Lakes Region
Nursing Related Majors for Nursing
One of 30 majors within the area of study, nursing has other similar majors worth exploring.
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 25 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.