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Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in California

7 Schools Ranked

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. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools and bootcamps that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

The Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in California ranking is one of many tools that Nursing Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 7 schools in California to see which online doctor's degree programs were the most popular for nursing students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from schools with online programs.

Learn more about these popular schools with online programs:

#1

Brandman University

Irvine, California
113 Total Awards
$12,720 Average Tuition & Fees

Our 2023 rankings named Brandman University the most popular school in California for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. Irvine, California is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out doctor’s degrees to 113 students in 2020-2021.

Around 84% of those degree recipients were women.

Brandman is one of the schools on our list that is primarily online. Each graduate student at the school took at least one class online.

Read full report on Brandman University

45 Total Awards
$26,247 Average Tuition & Fees

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences is a great place for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. USAHS is a medium-sized private for-profit school situated in San Marcos, California. It awarded 45 doctor’s degrees in 2020-2021.

Of those students who received their degree, 82% were women.

USAHS is one of the schools on our list that is primarily online. Each graduate student at the school took at least one class online.

Full University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences Report

12 Total Awards
$8,087 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at California State University - Fresno helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular nursing schools in California. California State University - Fresno is a large public school located in Fresno, California that handed out 12 doctor’s degrees in 2020-2021.

Around 92% of those degree recipients were women.

Of all the graduate students enrolled at the school during the 2019-2020 academic year, around 98% took at least some of their classes online.

Full California State University - Fresno Report

#4

Point Loma Nazarene University

San Diego, California
9 Total Awards

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Point Loma Nazarene University is a great place for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree. PLNU is located in San Diego, California and has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 9 doctor’s degrees to qualified students.

Around 89% of those degree recipients were women.

Around 56% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.

Full Point Loma Nazarene University Report

$10,989 Average Tuition & Fees

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means West Coast University - Orange County is a great place for nursing students working on their doctor’s degree.

West Coast University - Orange County is one of the schools on our list that is primarily online. Each graduate student at the school took at least one class online.

Read full report on West Coast University - Orange County

#5

Northcentral University

San Diego, California
$18,207 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Northcentral University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list.

Since the graduate programs at Northcentral University are primarily online school, so it is a great choice for returning adults and students who work full time.

Read More…

#5

National University

La Jolla, California

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend National University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list.

Around 48% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.

Read full report on National University

Most Popular Online Nursing Doctor's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

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Notes and References

Footnotes

*These averages are for the top 7 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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