Best Nursing Education PhD Programs, Ranked (2026)

Teaching is the point of this degree. Research on nursing education and on instructional practice sits at the center, so a future faculty member studies how nurses learn from the first semester.

Where it wins. Coursework runs fully online on days, nights, or weekends with no residency, and the 24 credits a DNP earns transfer, which cuts that path to 36 credits.

What you give up. Tuition is $516 per credit with no funding package, so a working educator pays as they go.

Nursing education is one of three emphases, which lets a would-be educator study teaching alongside rural and population health instead of only in a teaching track.

Where it wins. The Nurse Faculty Loan Program funds tuition for students who intend to teach, and up to 85 percent of the loan is forgiven after four years in a school of nursing.

What you give up. Every emphasis is part-time, so the finish date is set student by student and has no fixed calendar.

This is a Nursing Education PhD by name, and the research it asks for is about teaching nurses well, so nothing in the title is a side path.

Where it wins. A flat $802 per credit applies to in-state and out-of-state students alike, with no student or technology fees. A five-day summer orientation includes the Nurse Educator Conference.

What you give up. Plan on four years or more, with the fourth spent entirely on the dissertation, and no funding package.

Nursing Education is one of five specializations here, a good fit for a nurse who wants a teaching focus and might still change course after the first quarter.

Where it wins. Rolling admission, part-time pacing, and a DNP Bridge option suit working nurses. Students who are ABD elsewhere can finish through a 25-credit completion pathway.

What you give up. At $820 per credit plus four residencies, the total climbs, and a grant of up to $5,000 is the only discount.

Nursing education science is named as the research home for faculty here, and the curriculum has students take on the academic nurse educator role directly.

Where it wins. The Conway PhD Fellows track pays $80,000 over three years and asks fellows to teach in an accredited nursing program afterward, so the money points at the classroom.

What you give up. Summer sessions on campus are required every year of coursework, and fellows agree to work no more than ten hours a week.

Students choose between rural health and a Nursing Education and Simulation focus, which suits an educator who runs a skills lab or teaches with simulation.

Where it wins. Coursework is asynchronous, and the semester intensives can be attended by Zoom, so no one has to travel to Johnson City. Tuition is $672 per credit.

What you give up. Only five to seven students enter each fall, so seats are scarce and funding is not guaranteed.

The Nursing Education concentration is the whole degree: curriculum development, program evaluation, learning theories, and teaching methods carry the coursework.

Where it wins. Eight-week online courses start monthly, and up to half the credits can transfer in. Eligible military students pay $395 per credit.

What you give up. This is a master's-entry path that needs an RN license and a year of practice, and it adds a 90-hour research experience before the dissertation.

Adelphi offers one concentration, Nursing Education, so every classmate is preparing for the same teaching career and the cohort talks about the same problems.

Where it wins. It is fully online with no campus visits, and the college is a designated National League for Nursing Center of Excellence.

What you give up. At $1,900 per credit it costs more than most online options here, and loan repayment help through the faculty loan program is currently paused for new borrowers.

Nursing education is one research area among several, so a future educator can pair it with health systems or symptom science and have a second specialty to teach from.

Where it wins. Most PhD courses meet on Thursdays, which leaves the rest of the week for a teaching job, and classes can be joined live from a distance.

What you give up. Classes are synchronous, so a fixed weekly time is required, and the stipend comes only with an assistantship.

Widener builds research around nursing education science, evidence-based teaching, and leadership in nursing education, and says its school is an NLN Center of Excellence in that science.

Where it wins. Evening classes, either in person or online, were built for working educators and practitioners, and one brief residency falls in the second year.

What you give up. Admission wants a 3.5 GPA and a reference from someone holding a research doctorate, and the 48 credits cost $1,090 each.

Education here is a cognate rather than the whole degree, with the research emphasis on families, so it suits an educator who studies family health.

Where it wins. The nurse educator cognate covers learning theories, teaching strategies, curriculum development, and accreditation of nursing programs in eight-week online sessions.

What you give up. Every doctoral core course is built around family research, so the education coursework is a smaller share of the whole.

Pedagogical research is one of three research foci, which makes this a fit for someone who wants to study teaching rigorously instead of only practicing it.

Where it wins. Teaching and research assistantships come with tuition scholarships, and faculty loan funding repays 85 percent of program costs after four years of teaching.

What you give up. In-person intensive days each May are mandatory, and tuition runs $1,450 per credit.

A DNP holder can turn a practice doctorate into a research one aimed at faculty roles, with teaching strategies and student-learning evaluation as the research content.

Where it wins. Seventeen credits are awarded for the DNP, leaving 43 hours of coursework, which fits a two-year part-time plan.

What you give up. Only DNP graduates with an unencumbered RN license qualify, and two on-campus intensives are required.

Education and administration share the title, so a graduate is prepared to teach and also to run a nursing program, with curriculum, evaluation, and policy in the coursework.

Where it wins. Two or three years part-time at $650 per credit is among the lowest tuition on this list, and the GRE can be skipped by passing a writing course.

What you give up. Two on-campus intensives a year in Hattiesburg are required, and no assistantships come with the degree.

The degree is built on the Nurse Scientist Educator role, with a separate plan of study for Nurse Educator, so teaching is part of how the program defines a scientist.

Where it wins. The qualifying exam requires submitting an article to a peer-reviewed journal, which gets a future faculty member publishing early.

What you give up. Only a limited number of competitive assistantships are available, and four to five years is the stated pace.

Nursing education research is a named strength, and the stated aim is to lead educational research that shapes the future of nursing education.

Where it wins. A post-DNP pathway transfers up to 15 credit hours, and the dissertation can be a proposal plus two manuscripts submitted for publication, which is useful for a faculty CV.

What you give up. The last thirty credit hours must be earned at Memphis, and funding options are limited.

Maryland's first PhD in Nursing Education launched here, with an explicit mission to address the faculty shortage, so teaching sits at the center of the degree.

Where it wins. Tuition is $475 per credit across 60 credits: 21 core, 18 in research and statistics, and 21 for the dissertation, with mentorship through publication.

What you give up. The inaugural cohort began in fall 2026, so there are no graduates yet, and there is no stipend or assistantship package.

Pedagogy and curriculum evaluation are part of the required coursework, and the cohort is built around working nurse educators and executives.

Where it wins. Forty-two credits at six a semester across eight semesters keeps a full-time teaching job possible, and scholarships can cut costs by up to half.

What you give up. At $1,585 per credit the sticker price is high, and a candidacy paper is due by October of the third semester.