The University of Missouri-Kansas City School of Nursing and Health Studies has been awarded more than $5 million in grants since spring for new programs, research and student scholarships — and U.S. News and World Report recently recognized the school in the Top 10 for its affordability value.

“We are thrilled, and grateful for the recognition the school continues to receive,” said Ann Cary, dean of the UMKC School of Nursing and Health Studies. “The school provides affordable education for nurses and health science graduates — at one of the lowest costs in the U.S. — to improve patient and population care in the Kansas City area and nationwide.”

The largest grant was $2.28 million from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services for the continuation of the National Clinical Training Center for Family Planning, one of three national training centers based at the school that educate health-care providers on best practices in their fields. The other two centers are the National HIV Prevention Capacity Building Assistance Provider Network Resource Center and the Addiction Technology Transfer Center Network Coordinating Office.

The school also received a $1.48 million grant from the Health Resources and Services Administration for interprofessional teams of graduate nursing and social work students caring for rural, medically underserved patients in northwest Missouri.

The remainder of the grants are going toward student scholarships to encourage diversity as well as faculty research.

U.S. News and World Report ranked the UMKC School of Nursing and Health Studies in the Top 20 (No. 18), the highest of any Missouri or Kansas public universities, for its online graduate programs. Recently it was named to the U.S. News and World Report’s “10 Cheapest Online Graduate Nursing Programs for Out-of-State Students.” (No. 10). This article rated the affordability of graduate programs for out-of-state students at the Top 10 schools.