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Best Value Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Iowa

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2023 Best Value Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Iowa

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

6 Colleges
$12,773 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$98,140 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Master's Degree 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.

The Best Value Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Iowa ranking is one of many tools that Nursing Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 6 schools in Iowa to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for nursing students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

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.

Best Iowa Schools for Affordable Quality for a Master's 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 master’s degree. Morningside is a small private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Sioux City.

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

Morningside also took the #3 spot in our Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Iowa rankings.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Graceland University - Lamoni. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Iowa list. Located in the rural area of Lamoni, Graceland Lamoni is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Graceland Lamoni are $11,187 a year.

Graceland Lamoni did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Iowa list.

Full Nursing at Graceland University - Lamoni Report

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#3

University of Iowa

Iowa City, IA

Out of the 6 schools in Iowa that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Iowa landed the # 3 spot on the list. Iowa is a fairly large public school located in the city of Iowa City.

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

Iowa also made our Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Iowa list, coming in at #1.

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#4

Briar Cliff University

Sioux City, IA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Briar Cliff University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Iowa list. Located in the small 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 did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Iowa list.

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#5

Mount Mercy University

Cedar Rapids, IA

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Mount Mercy University. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Iowa list. Mount Mercy is a small private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Cedar Rapids.

Mount Mercy graduate students pay an average of $11,176 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Mount Mercy did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Iowa list.

Full Nursing at Mount Mercy University Report

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#6

Allen College

Waterloo, IA

Allen College came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Iowa ranking. Located in the small city of Waterloo, Allen College is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly small student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Allen College are $18,908 per year.

Full Nursing at Allen College Report

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Best Value Nursing Colleges in the Plains States Region

Explore all the Best Value Nursing Colleges 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.

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