Best PhD in Nursing Programs in Kentucky, Ranked (2026)
Kentucky's nursing schools award three nursing doctorates a year. Sit with that number before you start reading about PhD in nursing programs in Kentucky, because it tells you what the cohorts look like. Faculty here are supervising a handful of doctoral students rather than running a pipeline, and you'll be known by name in a way you wouldn't be at a large research school. There are two programs, the University of Kentucky in Lexington and the University of Louisville in Louisville. Both are public, and neither is online.
Last updated
Programs ranked
2
Universities
2
Nursing faculty median
$71,920
Faculty jobs in KY
1,130
How We Ranked the Best PhD in Nursing Programs in Kentucky
Campus and online programs are scored on separate models, because they compete on different
things, and this page lists both together with each one's score from its own model. Research
funding comes from NIH RePORTER, doctoral scale from federal IPEDS completions, and the
curriculum, funding and deadline figures from each school's own pages.
The full scoring model is here.
All of Kentucky's NINR funding, $4.01 million across eight awards, sits at this one college. If you want a supervisor already running federally funded work, the state gives you one address and no second choice.
Where it wins. Delivery is a choice you make at admission and can change every semester: in person in Lexington, or by Zoom into the same live classroom. The other Kentucky PhD requires a year of full-time residency in Louisville.
What you give up. The research doctorate is a small part of what this college does. One PhD awarded a year against 36 DNPs means very few peers a year ahead of you, and possibly nobody else working on your question.
Research. Chronic Disease Prevention and Management, Behavioral Health and Wellness, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety, Health Services and Policy Research, Substance Use Harm Reduction, Community Engaged Research.
Louisville asks for something Lexington doesn't: at least two years here, one of them in full-time residency. What you get back is published credit counts for every entry point, which matters most if you already hold a DNP.
Where it wins. It prices the DNP shortcut openly: 31 credits beyond a DNP against 55 beyond a BSN, so a DNP holder pays roughly $23,250 at $750 a credit rather than $41,250. Lexington assembles its post-DNP plan case by case.
What you give up. Cost won't decide it. At $750 across 55 credits you land within about $700 of Lexington's 52 at $806. Assistantships are also closed to part-time students, so going slowly to keep working means going without one.
Funding. Graduate Student Assistantships are available, but part-time students cannot hold one.
Every published detail for University of Louisville
Degree awarded
PhD
Delivery
On campus
School
University of Louisville School of Nursing
Entry points
BSN-to-PhD, MSN-to-PhD
Part-time study
Available
Dissertation
Required
On campus
At least two years of study at the University of Louisville with at least one year in full-time residency; alternatively four consecutive semesters of continuous enrollment with at least one core nursing course per semester
What Nursing Faculty and Nurse Researchers Earn in Kentucky
Kentucky's postsecondary nursing instructors have a median wage of $71,920, which is $8,330 under the national faculty median of $80,250. The state's RNs have a median of $81,040, so moving from practice into teaching costs about $9,120 a year at the median, and both figures sit well under the national RN median of $97,550. Faculty pay runs from $47,730 at the 10th percentile to $105,880 at the 90th. About 1,130 people hold nursing faculty jobs in Kentucky. That's a thin enough base that the median can move a fair amount from one year to the next.
Why a Kentucky Nursing PhD Means Living Within Driving Distance of Lexington or Louisville
The University of Kentucky's PhD in Nursing runs on a hybrid schedule in Lexington, and the University of Louisville's Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing is taught on campus in Louisville. Neither is delivered fully online, so the map decides a lot here. If you're in the western counties or out east, the drive is the first thing to price out, ahead of tuition.
What softens it is that both programs take part-time students and both admit directly from a BSN, so you can stay employed and spread the travel across fewer heavy semesters. One of the two also drops the GRE. The median credit load across the two programs is 53.5.
NIH nursing research awards to Kentucky totalled $4,012,402 across FY2021 through FY2025, and that money sits with the same two universities. It's worth asking each school what share of it reaches doctoral students as an assistantship, because a funded research line is the difference between three years of driving and three years of driving on your own money.
Questions About Nursing PhD Programs in Kentucky
How many PhD in nursing programs are there in Kentucky?
2, at 2 universities. 2 are campus-based and 0 run online.
Can you study for a nursing PhD part time in Kentucky?
Yes. Both Kentucky programs, at the University of Kentucky in Lexington and the University of Louisville, offer part-time study, and both admit students who hold a BSN rather than requiring a master's first.
How many credits does a nursing PhD in Kentucky take?
The median across the two programs is 53.5 credits. The University of Kentucky's program is hybrid and Louisville's is taught on campus, so plan around on-site days as much as around the credit count.
What do nursing professors earn in Kentucky?
Postsecondary nursing instructors in Kentucky earn a $71,920 median. The bottom 10% earn $47,730 and the top 10% clear $105,880, across 1,130 jobs in the state. The national median is $80,250.
Can you do a nursing PhD in Kentucky without moving?
Every nursing PhD program in Kentucky is campus-based, so studying in state means commuting or moving. The alternative is an online program based elsewhere, and those are ranked here.