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Best Value Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Minnesota

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2023 Best Value Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Minnesota

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

12 Colleges
$11,539 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$98,140 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Nursing Master's Degree School for You

Nursing is the most popular major in Minnesota with 14,890 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021.

It's not easy to decide which nursing program to enroll in when you have so many options available. 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 help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Nursing Degree Search has developed this Best Value Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Minnesota ranking. Our analysis looked at 12 schools in Minnesota to see which master'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.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Minnesota

Check out the nursing master's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Rasmussen University - Minnesota the best value school in Minnesota for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Rasmussen University - Minnesota is a small private for-profit school located in the city of St. Cloud.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Rasmussen University - Minnesota are $5,615 a year.

Read full report on Nursing at Rasmussen University - Minnesota

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota is a great value for nursing students working on their master’s degree. SMU MN is a small private not-for-profit school located in the distant town of Winona.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at SMU MN are $10,890 a year.

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

Full Nursing at Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Winona State University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Minnesota list. Located in the town of Winona, Winona State is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Winona State are $8,756 a year.

Winona State also took the #4 spot in our Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Minnesota rankings.

Full Nursing at Winona State University Report

Out of the 12 schools in Minnesota that were part of this year’s ranking, Minnesota State University - Mankato landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the city of Mankato, Minnesota State Mankato is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Minnesota State Mankato graduate students pay an average of $9,308 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Minnesota State Mankato not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #5 on our Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Minnesota list.

Full Nursing at Minnesota State University - Mankato Report

#6

Bethel University Minnesota

Saint Paul, MN

Bethel University Minnesota landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree nursing programs. Bethel University Minnesota is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Saint Paul.

Bethel University Minnesota graduate students pay an average of $11,700 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Bethel University Minnesota also made our Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Minnesota list, coming in at #3.

Read full report on Nursing at Bethel University Minnesota

#7

Augsburg University

Minneapolis, MN

Augsburg University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. Augsburg is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Minneapolis.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Augsburg are $13,500 per year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Augsburg is ranked #2 for overall quality for nursing in Minnesota.

Read More…

Minnesota State University - Moorhead did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. Located in the suburb of Moorhead, MSU Moorhead is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at MSU Moorhead are $11,052 per year.

Read full report on Nursing at Minnesota State University - Moorhead

Metropolitan State University landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree nursing programs. Located in the city of Saint Paul, Metro State is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Metro State are $10,237 a year.

Read full report on Nursing at Metropolitan State University

#10

Capella University

Minneapolis, MN

With a ranking of #10, Capella University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Capella University is a fairly large private for-profit school located in the large city of Minneapolis.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Capella University are $14,784 a year.

Read More…

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
South Dakota 1,022
North Dakota 976
Nebraska 1,908
Kansas 2,633
Iowa 2,966
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

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

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 12 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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