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Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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2023 Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

46 Colleges
$13,206 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$99,011 Avg Salary

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.

2023 Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Check out the nursing graduate certificate programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools

#1

Youngstown State University

Youngstown, OH

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 fairly large public school located in the city of Youngstown.

Youngstown State University graduate students pay an average of $6,931 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Nursing at Youngstown State University

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public school with a large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at SIUE are $9,316 a year.

Read full report on Nursing at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

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 medium-sized city of Peoria.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at St. Francis Medical Center College of Nursing are $8,740 per year.

Full Nursing at Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing Report

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 large suburb of Mequon.

Concordia University, Wisconsin graduate students pay an average of $11,760 in tuition and fees each year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Concordia University, Wisconsin also is in the top 20% of our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking.

Full Nursing at Concordia University, Wisconsin Report

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Herzing University - Madison. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the city of Madison, Herzing University - Madison is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Herzing University - Madison are $11,680 per year.

Read full report on Nursing at Herzing University - Madison

With a ranking of #6, University of St Francis did quite well on this year’s best value schools for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the large suburb of Joliet, University of Saint Francis is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at University of Saint Francis are $13,839 per year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, University of Saint Francis also did well on our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Read More…

Chamberlain University - Illinois ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the large suburb of Addison, Chamberlain - Illinois is a private for-profit school with a very large student population.

Chamberlain - Illinois graduate students pay an average of $14,090 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Nursing at Chamberlain University - Illinois

Illinois State University ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Illinois State are $11,773 per year.

Full Nursing at Illinois State University Report

#9

Purdue University Global

Indianapolis, IN

Purdue University Global did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #9 on the list. Located in the small city of Indianapolis, Purdue University Global is a public school with a very large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Purdue University Global are $10,582 per year.

Full Nursing at Purdue University Global Report

#10

Lewis University

Romeoville, IL

Lewis University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #10 on the list. Located in the suburb of Romeoville, Lewis is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

Lewis graduate students pay an average of $14,960 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Nursing at Lewis University

Best Nursing Colleges by State

Explore the best nursing colleges 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

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.

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