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Best Value Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

18 Colleges
$20,220 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$115,233 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Doctor's Degree School for You

Out of the majors we analyze each year, nursing was the most popular one in California. In total, 18,329 people earned a degree or certificate in the field from a school in California.

There are so many nursing programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one for you. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Nursing Degree Search has created its Best Value Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 18 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value doctor's degree 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. 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.

For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

Top 10 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named California State University - Fresno the best value school in California for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Fresno State is a fairly large public school located in the city of Fresno.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Fresno State are $8,087 a year.

Fresno State also made our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list, coming in at #4.

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The excellent doctor’s degree programs at California State University - Fullerton helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value nursing schools in California. Located in the large suburb of Fullerton, Cal State Fullerton is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Cal State Fullerton are $8,410 a year.

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A rank of #3 on this year’s list means San Jose State University is a great value for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public school with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at San Jose State are $9,286 per year.

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Out of the 18 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Point Loma Nazarene University landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the large city of San Diego, PLNU is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

PLNU graduate students pay an average of $11,880 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

PLNU not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #1 on our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list.

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The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of California - Los Angeles helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value nursing schools in California. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public school with a very large student population.

UCLA graduate students pay an average of $13,036 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

UCLA also made our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list, coming in at #2.

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University of California - Davis did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the small suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public school with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UC Davis are $13,608 per year.

UC Davis also made our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list, coming in at #3.

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#7

Brandman University

Irvine, CA

Brandman University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. Located in the city of Irvine, Brandman is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.

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

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University of California - Irvine ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public school with a very large student population.

UC Irvine graduate students pay an average of $13,356 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the suburb of San Marcos, USAHS is a private for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at USAHS are $26,247 per year.

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Azusa Pacific University came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California ranking. Located in the suburb of Azusa, Azusa Pacific is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

Azusa Pacific graduate students pay an average of $16,696 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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Best Value Nursing Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Nursing Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

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

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
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants 84,274

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 18 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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