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Best Value Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Illinois

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2023 Best Value Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in Illinois

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

19 Colleges
$15,539 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 Illinois. In total, 21,938 people earned a degree or certificate in the field from a school in Illinois.

Today's nursing students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.

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 Illinois ranking. Our analysis looked at 19 schools in Illinois to see which doctor's degree 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. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Illinois

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for nursing majors pursuing a doctor's degree.

Top 10 Best Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Saint Francis Medical Center College of Nursing the best value school in Illinois for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the medium-sized city of Peoria, St. Francis Medical Center College of Nursing is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly small student population.

St. Francis Medical Center College of Nursing graduate students pay an average of $8,740 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

#2

McKendree University

Lebanon, IL

Out of the 19 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, McKendree University landed the # 2 spot on the list. McKendree is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Lebanon.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at McKendree are $9,756 per year.

McKendree also made our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list, coming in at #4.

Read full report on Nursing at McKendree University

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Chamberlain University - Illinois. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Chamberlain - Illinois is a very large private for-profit school located in the large suburb of Addison.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Chamberlain - Illinois are $14,090 a year.

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Out of the 19 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Illinois State University landed the # 4 spot on the list. Illinois State is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Normal.

Illinois State graduate students pay an average of $9,773 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Nursing at Illinois State University Report

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. SIUE is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Edwardsville.

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

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University of St Francis came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. University of Saint Francis is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Joliet.

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

University of Saint Francis did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.

Read More…

#7

Governors State University

University Park, IL

Governors State University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value doctor’s degree nursing programs. Located in the rural area of University Park, GSU is a public school with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at GSU are $8,320 a year.

Full Nursing at Governors State University Report

#8

Lewis University

Romeoville, IL

Lewis University landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value doctor’s degree nursing programs. Lewis is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Romeoville.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Lewis are $14,960 per year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Lewis is ranked #3 for overall quality for nursing in Illinois.

Read More…

#9

Bradley University

Peoria, IL

With a ranking of #9, Bradley University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of Peoria, Bradley is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Bradley are $17,400 per year.

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

Read full report on Nursing at Bradley University

#10

North Park University

Chicago, IL

North Park University came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Located in the city of Chicago, North Park is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at North Park are $14,184 per year.

North Park not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #5 on our Best Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.

Full Nursing at North Park University Report

Best Value Nursing Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 7,345
Ohio 13,973
Indiana 7,922
Wisconsin 5,410

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

Majors Similar to Nursing

Related Major Annual Graduates
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants 84,274

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 19 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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