2023 Best Value Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Massachusetts
Identifying High-Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
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 and bootcamps 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 Massachusetts ranking. Our analysis looked at 15 schools in Massachusetts 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.
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.
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Top Value Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Massachusetts
Learn more about these excellent schools below:
Our 2023 rankings named Fitchburg State University the best value school in Massachusetts for nursing students working on their master’s degree. Located in Fitchburg, Massachusetts, the medium-sized public school awarded 7 diplomas to qualifed master’s degree students in 2020-2021.
Fitchburg State graduate students pay an average of $6,012 in tuition and fees each year.
Online graduate courses are available at Fitchburg State, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. During the 2019-2020 year, about 89% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
Out of the 15 schools in Massachusetts that were part of this year’s value ranking, Worcester State University landed the # 2 spot on the list. Worcester, Massachusetts is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The public school handed out master’s degrees to 28 students in 2020-2021.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Worcester State are $5,796 per year.
Online graduate courses are available at Worcester State, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 62% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Endicott College is a great place for nursing students working on their master’s degree who want the most bang for their educational buck. Endicott College is a small private not-for-profit school located in Beverly, Massachusetts that handed out 28 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Endicott graduate students pay an average of $12,746 in tuition and fees each year.
Depending on your major, you may be able to take online graduate classes at Endicott. During the 2019-2020 year, about 84% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
Endicott also made our Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Massachusetts list, coming in at #4.
A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Salem State University is a great place for nursing students working on their master’s degree who want the most bang for their educational buck. Located in Salem, Massachusetts, the medium-sized public school awarded 31 diplomas to qualifed master’s degree students in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Salem State are $10,477 a year.
Salem State does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. During the 2019-2020 year, about 96% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
Out of the 15 schools in Massachusetts that were part of this year’s value ranking, American International College landed the # 5 spot on the list. Springfield, Massachusetts is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out master’s degrees to 19 students in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at AIC are $12,717 a year.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at AIC. In fact, around 14% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
University of Massachusetts Amherst landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree nursing programs. UMass Amherst is a public institution located in Amherst, Massachusetts. The school has a large population, and it awarded 13 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UMass Amherst are $32,809 a year.
UMass Amherst does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 82% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
UMass Amherst did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Massachusetts list.
Simmons University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree nursing programs. Located in Boston, Massachusetts, the medium-sized private not-for-profit school awarded 534 diplomas to qualifed master’s degree students in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Simmons are $21,546 a year.
Interested in an online degree? Then you definitely want to check out Simmons. Every graduate student at the school took at least one class online.
Simmons also made our Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Massachusetts list, coming in at #3.
University of Massachusetts - Lowell landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree nursing programs. Located in Lowell, Massachusetts, the fairly large public school handed out 19 master’s degree awards in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UMass Lowell are $26,990 a year.
UMass Lowell does have options available for those who want to take online graduate classes. You will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your specific major. In fact, around 99% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Northeastern University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Massachusetts ranking. Northeastern University is a large private not-for-profit school located in Boston, Massachusetts that handed out 74 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Northeastern are $26,095 per year.
Online graduate courses are available at Northeastern, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 29% took at least some of their classes online.
In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Northeastern is ranked #2 for overall quality in Massachusetts.
Curry College did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value places for nursing students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. Curry is a private not-for-profit institution located in Milton, Massachusetts. The school has a small population, and it awarded 14 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Curry are $15,114 per year.
You may have the opportunity to take online graduate classes at Curry. In fact, around 53% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Elms College ranked #11 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Massachusetts list. Elms College is located in Chicopee, Massachusetts and has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 6 master’s degrees to qualified students.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Elms College are $16,017 a year.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Elms College. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 50% took at least some of their classes online.
Boston College ranked #12 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Massachusetts list. Boston College is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts. It awarded 113 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Boston College are $32,722 per year.
One thing to take note of is that Boston College does offer online graduate classes in some areas. In fact, around 66% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Boston College also made our Best Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Massachusetts list, coming in at #1.
University of Massachusetts - Boston landed the #13 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree nursing programs. This fairly large public school is located in Boston, Massachusetts, and it awarded 40 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
UMass Boston graduate students pay an average of $36,485 in tuition and fees each year.
One thing to take note of is that UMass Boston does offer online graduate classes in some areas. Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 100% took at least some of their classes online.
University of Massachusetts - Dartmouth came in at #14 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Massachusetts ranking. UMass Dartmouth is a medium-sized public school situated in North Dartmouth, Massachusetts. It awarded 3 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UMass Dartmouth are $30,153 a year.
One thing to take note of is that UMass Dartmouth does offer online graduate classes in some areas. In 2019-2020 about 90% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
Northeastern University Professional Advancement Network ranked #15 on this year’s Best Value Nursing Master’s Degree Schools in Massachusetts list. This fairly large private not-for-profit school is located in Boston, Massachusetts, and it awarded 2 master’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Northeastern University Professional Advancement Network are $23,510 per year.
One thing to take note of is that Northeastern University Professional Advancement Network does offer online graduate classes in some areas. In fact, around 66% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Full Northeastern University Professional Advancement Network Report
Best Value Nursing Master's Degree Schools in the New England Region
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Notes and References
Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 15 schools only.
References
- 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 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).
- Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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