Best PhD in Nursing Programs in Massachusetts, Ranked (2026)

Massachusetts has one funded nursing PhD and this is it: three years of tuition, fees and insurance for every full-time student, not a competition among them. Everywhere else in the state you're applying for an assistantship.

Where it wins. Boston College holds $5.5 million in NINR awards, second in Massachusetts only to UMass Lowell, and puts students into clinical research at Boston-area health centers. The GRE isn't required, and 46 credits is among the lightest loads in the state.

What you give up. The funding runs three years and the program runs four, so the last year is on you at $1,952 a credit, the highest published rate in Massachusetts. Admission needs a 3.5 GPA, and the school awarded 4 PhDs against 85 DNPs.

Seven of the eight Massachusetts nursing PhDs put you in a room somewhere. Endicott is the exception: fully online, no residency, part-time or full-time, with a published price of $50,985 for the 45 credits.

Where it wins. The cohort model keeps a peer group around you even at distance, and faculty advising is individualized for the dissertation. Two optional education courses take the degree to 51 credits if you're aiming at a faculty post.

What you give up. It costs about $14,400 more than UMass Dartmouth's 52-credit post-master's route, and Dartmouth lets you attend nearly everything remotely anyway. Entry is master's only, and the aid on offer is federal and private loans.

One Saturday a month on campus, with a remote option even for that, and $10.5 million in NINR awards behind the faculty. No other Massachusetts program pairs grant-funded research with a schedule you can work around.

Where it wins. Lowell holds about two thirds of all NINR funding at Massachusetts nursing schools. Three BSN entry pathways exist, including routes that add an MPH with a concentration in epidemiology at 69 credits or social and behavioral sciences at 75.

What you give up. The post-master's route is 48 credits at $926.22, or $44,459, with only a limited number of teaching assistantships each year. Those MPH pathways add 21 to 27 credits on top, and the program awarded 3 PhDs.

UMass Boston awarded 8 PhDs, more than any other nursing program in Massachusetts, and it does it through a single track: health policy and population health. Narrow focus, high throughput.

Where it wins. Bachelor's entrants can be awarded a non-clinical master's in nursing after 30 credits on the way to the doctorate, which no other Massachusetts program does. At $877.50 a credit the 48-credit plan comes to $42,120.

What you give up. If your question isn't policy or population health, there's no second track to move into. Delivery is on campus in Boston with no distance option, and the NINR money in the building is $167,919 against Lowell's $10.5 million.

Northeastern makes you work inside somebody's live study: six credits of supervised research with a Boston-area investigator, which is why a Massachusetts RN license is required by the time you matriculate.

Where it wins. Graduate assistantships cover full tuition and a stipend for 20 hours a week of research or teaching. Three to four years is the fastest published completion in Massachusetts, and up to nine graduate credits transfer in with approval.

What you give up. Those assistantships are competitive and awarded a year at a time, not the three-year commitment Boston College makes. The license requirement rules out applicants who haven't licensed in Massachusetts, and admission needs a 3.5 GPA.

Every other nursing PhD in Massachusetts sits in Worcester or east of it. Amherst is the only one out in the western half of the state, which for a nurse in the Pioneer Valley settles the question.

Where it wins. Applications are read year-round after the December 1 priority date, based on whether a placement is open, so you're not locked out for twelve months by missing one deadline. The core plan of study is 57 credits.

What you give up. Amherst says plainly that acceptance doesn't guarantee funding, and support comes from assistantships, NFLP loans and fellowships you compete for. Post-baccalaureate students take 22 credits beyond the 57, and the state's grant money sits at Lowell and Boston College.

This is the cheapest doctorate on the page. Fifty-two credits at $703.58 comes to $36,586, about $5,500 under UMass Boston and roughly $14,400 under Endicott's online program.

Where it wins. Three courses a semester are online and the rest meet on Tuesdays, but every class is wired for live remote participation, so the commute is optional most weeks. The qualifying exam is submitting an article to a peer-reviewed journal.

What you give up. Bachelor's entrants take 73 credits, $51,361 in tuition, plus a one-year residency requirement. Assistantships are limited and competitive, the dissertation stipend covers research expenses rather than living costs, and completion runs four to five years.

UMass Chan is a medical school, and its nursing PhD is the only one in Massachusetts housed inside one, so coursework and committee sit on a biomedical campus in Worcester rather than in a nursing college.

Where it wins. On-campus time is Tuesdays only and core coursework finishes within two years. The comprehensive exam can be satisfied by submitting manuscripts instead of sitting a traditional exam, and BSN entrants start in January rather than waiting for fall.

What you give up. The curriculum is explicitly built on Bernard Lonergan's cognitive philosophy, which is a real intellectual commitment to sign up to. Tuition is $961 a credit, funding is NFLP loans plus teaching assistantships whose availability varies, and the school awarded 3 PhDs.