BestHealthDegrees.com Ranks UCM’s Online MSN Fifth Most Affordable Program

By Jeff Murphy, August 16, 2019

WARRENSBURG, MO – Individuals who want to work in the health care industry and are seeking a quality, affordable education should consider the online Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) at the University of Central Missouri. The online educational information resource, BestHealthDegrees.com ranked the UCM program fifth on a list of the nation’s “10 Most Affordable Online MSN Degrees.”

In its recent online rankings feature, BestHealthDegrees.com notes that for students who opt for an online degree, “the most affordable online MSN programs sacrifice nothing in quality, while providing a degree that will return their investment with a real career boost.”

BestHealthDegrees.com began the ranking process with a survey of fully online and hybrid MSN programs offered by accredited and reputable nursing schools. Rankings were organized according to tuition cost, from highest to lowest using federal IPEDS data.

The rankings organization notes that UCM’s MSN is offered 100 percent online, and includes two areas of concentration – a Nurse Educator or a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP). The MSN online degree program is designed to emphasize advanced practice nursing knowledge, skills, and attitudes as well as the application of scholarly inquiry. The Nurse Educator emphasis area stresses the use of academic technologies including simulation in the educator role. Course work covers components for the certification of nurse educators. The Family Nurse Practitioner provides graduates with the needed course work and practica necessary to sit for the certification exam.

Students pursing an MSN certainly have excellent placement and salary opportunities ahead of them. BestHealthDegrees.com notes that the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) has indicated that in 2018 the average salary for an MS Nurse was $113,930 per year. This compares with a median salary for a Registered Nurse of $71,730 per year.

“Clearly, a Master of Science in Nursing salary will exceed that of a nursing professional without an MS nursing degree. In addition, to the larger MS Nurse salary, the job outlook through 2026, for nursing professionals with a graduate degree, far exceeds the expected growth in the nursing industry for those who only hold a baccalaureate degree or a nursing diploma,” according to BestHealthDegrees.com.

Predicted job growth for both the undergraduate- and graduate-level nursing professionals, according to the BLS, exceeds the average growth rate predicted for all U.S. industries through the year 2026, with an approximate growth rate of 8 percent.

To learn more about these rankings, go to BestHealthDegrees.com. For more information about opportunities within the UCM School of Nursing at UCM, visit ucmo.edu/college–of-health-science-and-technology/school-of-nursing.