2025 Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Indiana

If you pursue a master's degree in nursing, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #2 most popular program in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

College Factual looked at 15 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Indiana ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,210 master's degrees in nursing during the 2022-2023 academic year.

Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Nursing School for Your Master's Degree

The nursing master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality nursing program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on nursing students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of nursing students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
• Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for nursing to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized nursing related body.

Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for nursing students working on their master's degree.

One Size Does Not Fit All

When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Nursing Master's Degree Schools in Indiana list to help you make the college decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Nursing in Indiana

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in nursing.

10 Top Indiana Schools for a Master's in Nursing

1

Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis
Indianapolis, IN

122 Annual Graduates

$110,592 Median Starting Salary

Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in nursing. Located in the city of Indianapolis, IUPUI is a public university with a fairly large student population.

Master's recipients from the nursing major at Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis get $2,247 above the standard college grad in this field when they enter the workforce.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis

2

Purdue University Global
West Lafayette, IN

487 Annual Graduates

$107,024 Median Starting Salary

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in nursing needs to check out Purdue University Global. Located in the small city of West Lafayette, Purdue University Global is a public university with a fairly large student population.

After graduation, nursing master's recipients usually earn around $107,024 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Purdue University Global

3

Purdue University - Main Campus
West Lafayette, IN

14 Annual Graduates

$110,366 Median Starting Salary

It is hard to beat Purdue University - Main Campus if you wish to pursue a master's degree in nursing. Purdue is a very large public university located in the small city of West Lafayette.

Those nursing students who get their master's degree from Purdue University - Main Campus make $2,021 more than the typical nursing graduate.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Purdue University - Main Campus

4

University of Southern Indiana
Evansville, IN

43 Annual Graduates

$113,564 Median Starting Salary

Any student who is interested in a master's degree in nursing needs to take a look at University of Southern Indiana. Located in the suburb of Evansville, USI is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.

Those nursing students who get their master's degree from University of Southern Indiana make $5,219 more than the average nursing student.

More information about a master’s in nursing from University of Southern Indiana

5

Indiana Wesleyan University - National & Global
Marion, IN

203 Annual Graduates

$107,199 Median Starting Salary

Located in the rural area of Marion, IWU is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.

After graduation, nursing master's recipients generally make about $107,199 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Indiana Wesleyan University - National & Global

6

Ball State University
Muncie, IN

38 Annual Graduates

$103,103 Median Starting Salary

Ball State is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Muncie.

Soon after graduating, nursing master's recipients generally make about $103,103 at the beginning of their careers.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Ball State University

7

Purdue University Northwest
Hammond, IN

94 Annual Graduates

$108,669 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large suburb of Hammond, Purdue Northwest is a public university with a medium-sized student population.

After graduating, nursing master's recipients usually earn around $108,669 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Purdue University Northwest

8

Indiana State University
Terre Haute, IN

51 Annual Graduates

$107,868 Median Starting Salary

Indiana State is a medium-sized public university located in the small city of Terre Haute.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program earn about $107,868 in their early career salary.

More information about a master’s in nursing from Indiana State University

9

University of Saint Francis - Fort Wayne
Fort Wayne, IN

14 Annual Graduates

$106,836 Median Starting Salary

University of St. Francis Fort Wayne is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Fort Wayne.

Master's graduates who receive their degree from the nursing program earn about $106,836 in the first couple years of their career.

More information about a master’s in nursing from University of Saint Francis - Fort Wayne

10

Goshen College
Goshen, IN

12 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Goshen, Goshen is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.More information about a master’s in nursing from Goshen College

Best Nursing Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Nursing Schools in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Illinois	221	5,250
Michigan	211	902
Ohio	207	1,953
Wisconsin	173	588

View All Rankings >

Nursing Related Rankings by Major

Nursing is one of 34 different types of Health Professions programs to choose from.

Nursing Focus Areas

Major	Annual Graduates
Family Practice Nurse/Nursing	634
Registered Nursing	205
Psychiatric/Mental Health Nurse/Nursing	120
Geriatric Nurse/Nursing	107
Nursing Administration	68
Nursing Science	39
School Nursing	14
Adult Health Nurse/Nursing	11
Clinical Nurse Specialist	8
Other Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing	4

Most Popular Majors Related to Nursing

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Health & Medical Administrative Services	454
Public Health	424
Allied Health Professions	377
Mental & Social Health Services	318
Communication Sciences	186
Rehabilitation & Therapeutic Professions	112
Bioethics/Medical Ethics	105
Medical Illustration & Informatics	102
Advanced Dentistry & Oral Sciences	26
Dietetics & Clinical Nutrition Services	26

Notes and References

• The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
• The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), a branch of the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) serves as the core of the rest of our data about colleges.
• Some other college data, including much of the graduate earnings data, comes from the U.S. Department of Education’s (College Scorecard).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to Aleksahgabrielle. More about our data sources and methodologies.