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Best General Education Graduate Certificate Schools

2023 Best General Education Graduate Certificate Schools

69 Colleges
$47,664 Avg Salary
$26,812 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best General Education Graduate Certificate School for You

General Education is the #39 most popular major in the country with 29,810 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best General Education Graduate Certificate Schools to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 69 schools in the United States to see which graduate certificate programs offered the best educational experiences for students. To come up with a school's ranking, we analyzed numerous factors related to post-graduation wages, the quality of education offered by the school, average accumulated student debt, and more.

View our full ranking methodology.

2023 Best General Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the United States

The colleges and universities below are the best for education majors pursuing a graduate certificate.

Top 10 Best General Education Graduate Certificate Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Claremont Graduate University the best school in the United States for general education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the large suburb of Claremont, Claremont Graduate University is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

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The excellent graduate certificate programs at University of California - Berkeley helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best general education schools in the United States. UC Berkeley is a very large public school located in the midsize city of Berkeley.

Education majors at UC Berkeley take out an average of $18,850 in student loans while working on their Graduate Certificate.

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#3

Auburn University

Auburn, AL

The excellent graduate certificate programs at Auburn University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best general education schools in the United States. Located in the city of Auburn, Auburn is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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#4

Tufts University

Medford, MA

Out of the 69 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Tufts University landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the large suburb of Medford, Tufts is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

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The excellent graduate certificate programs at University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best general education schools in the United States. Pitt is a very large public school located in the large city of Pittsburgh.

Education majors at Pitt take out an average of $25,278 in student loans while working on their Graduate Certificate.

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With a ranking of #6, California State University - Sacramento did quite well on this year’s best schools for general education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the large city of Sacramento, Sac State is a public school with a very large student population.

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#7

University of Georgia

Athens, GA

University of Georgia landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best graduate certificate general education programs. Located in the city of Athens, UGA is a public school with a very large student population.

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University of Missouri - Columbia landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best graduate certificate general education programs. Mizzou is a very large public school located in the midsize city of Columbia.

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Winona State University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best General Education Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. Winona State is a medium-sized public school located in the distant town of Winona.

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best General Education Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. UIUC is a very large public school located in the small city of Champaign.

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Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great schools for General Education students that almost earned our Best General Education Graduate Certificate Schools award.

Rank College Location
11 Purdue University - Main Campus West Lafayette, IN
12 Ball State University Muncie, IN
13 Goucher College Baltimore, MD

General Education by Region

View the Best General Education Graduate Certificate Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

One of 14 majors within the area of study, general education has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Teacher Education Grade Specific 110,226
Educational Administration 46,469
Teacher Education Subject Specific 43,297
Special Education 36,792
Curriculum & Instruction 19,832

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • Read more about our ranking methodology.
  • 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 KOKUYO.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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