Find Nursing Schools

Study Area & Zipcode

Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa

Find Schools Near

2023 Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

6 Colleges
$13,367 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$99,011 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Graduate Certificate School for You

Nursing is the most popular major in Iowa with 2,966 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021.

Today's nursing 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, Nursing Degree Search has created its Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa ranking. Our analysis looked at 6 schools in Iowa 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. 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 Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa

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

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

#1

Morningside College

Sioux City, IA

Our 2023 rankings named Morningside College the best value school in Iowa for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. Morningside is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Sioux City.

Morningside graduate students pay an average of $6,516 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Morningside not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #3 on our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa list.

Read More…

#2

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA

The excellent graduate certificate programs at University of Iowa helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value nursing schools in Iowa. Iowa is a very large public school located in the small city of Iowa City.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Iowa are $12,065 per year.

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

Read full report on Nursing at University of Iowa

Out of the 6 schools in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, Graceland University - Lamoni landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the rural area of Lamoni, Graceland Lamoni is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Graceland Lamoni graduate students pay an average of $11,187 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Graceland Lamoni also took the #2 spot in our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa rankings.

Read full report on Nursing at Graceland University - Lamoni

#4

Briar Cliff University

Sioux City, IA

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Briar Cliff University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa list. Located in the city of Sioux City, Briar Cliff is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Briar Cliff are $10,530 per year.

Briar Cliff also took the #4 spot in our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa rankings.

Full Nursing at Briar Cliff University Report

#5

Allen College

Waterloo, IA

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

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Allen College are $18,908 a year.

Full Nursing at Allen College Report

#6

Clarke University

Dubuque, IA

With a ranking of #6, Clarke University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for nursing students working on their graduate certificate. Clarke is a small private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Dubuque.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Clarke are $14,147 a year.

Clarke also made our Best Nursing Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa list, coming in at #5.

Read More…

Best Value Nursing Colleges in the Plains States Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Minnesota 14,890
South Dakota 1,022
North Dakota 976
Nebraska 1,908
Kansas 2,633
Missouri 6,840

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 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.

Featured Schools

Find Nursing Schools Near You

Our free matching tool for schools matches students with nursing schools across the U.S.