ASU Nursing Online Grad Program Nationally Ranked

Angelo State University’s online Master of Science in Nursing (MSN) programs have been ranked among the nation’s “Top 30 Most Affordable Online Master’s in Nursing Degree Programs” for 2016 by GradSchoolHub.com, an education resource guide for prospective graduate students. 

ASU ranked No. 5 in the U.S. out of about 150 institutions that offer online MSN degree programs. Criteria for the rankings included accreditation, rankings in major publications and tuition costs, based on data taken from the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and school websites. 

Additionally, ASU’s online MSN-Nurse Educator program has also been ranked among the nation’s “25 Most Affordable Online Master’s Degrees in Nursing Education” for 2016 by the education resource guide, AffordableSchools.net. ASU ranked No. 15 in the U.S. based on accreditation, tuition costs and community cost of living data taken from accrediting agencies, NCES, school websites and Areavibes cost of living scores. 

Students in ASU’s online MSN degree programs can choose a specialization of either Nurse Educator or Family Nurse Practitioner. A collaborative MSN program with Texas Tech University that leads to certification as either an adult care nurse practitioner or pediatric primary care nurse practitioner is also available. 

Nurse practitioners can provide many of the same basic services as primary care physicians, including immunizations, prescriptions, referrals and minor surgical procedures. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the job outlook for nurse practitioners is expected to grow at a rate of 31 percent by 2022.  

According to the American Association of Colleges of Nursing, there is a tremendous need for nurse educators to teach student nurses as nearly 80,000 qualified students are turned away from U.S. nursing schools each year due to a critical shortage of faculty. 

ASU was one of only three Texas schools to make the GradSchoolHub.com rankings. The others were Texas Tech University and the University of Texas at Tyler. The full list is available at www.gradschoolhub.com/best/affordable-online-masters-nursing-msn/. 

ASU was one of six Texas schools in the AffordableSchools.net rankings. The others were Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas Woman’s University, University of Texas at El Paso, University of Texas at Tyler and Wayland Baptist University. The full list is available at http://affordableschools.net/25-affordable-online-masters-nursing-education-degrees/.