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Best Value General Education Graduate Certificate Schools

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2023 Best Value General Education Graduate Certificate Schools

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

69 Colleges
$13,682 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$47,664 Avg Salary

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.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Value General Education Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 69 schools in the United States to see which graduate certificate programs offered the best value experiences for education students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value General Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the United States

The following schools top our list of the Best Value General Education Graduate Certificate Colleges.

Top 10 Best General Education Graduate Certificate Schools

#1

Goucher College

Baltimore, MD

Our analysis found Goucher College to be the best value school for general education students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in the United States. Goucher is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Baltimore.

Goucher graduate students pay an average of $9,765 in tuition and fees each year.

Full General Education at Goucher College Report

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Minnesota State University - Mankato is a great value for general education students working on their graduate certificate. Minnesota State Mankato is a fairly large public school located in the city of Mankato.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Minnesota State Mankato are $9,308 a year.

In addition to its great value ranking, Minnesota State Mankato is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best General Education Graduate Certificate Schools list.

Read More…

Out of the 69 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Winona State University landed the # 3 spot on the list. Winona State is a medium-sized public school located in the distant town of Winona.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Winona State are $12,836 per year.

In addition to its great value ranking, Winona State is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best General Education Graduate Certificate Schools list.

Full General Education at Winona State University Report

#4

Union College Kentucky

Barbourville, KY

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Union College Kentucky. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value General Education Graduate Certificate Schools list. Union College is a small private not-for-profit school located in the remote town of Barbourville.

Union College graduate students pay an average of $8,210 in tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

With a ranking of #6, University of Southern Mississippi did quite well on this year’s best value schools for general education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the small city of Hattiesburg, Southern Miss is a public college with a large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Southern Miss are $11,204 a year.

Read More…

University of North Alabama ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value General Education Graduate Certificate Schools list. UNA is a medium-sized public school located in the city of Florence.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UNA are $13,860 a year.

Read full report on General Education at University of North Alabama

#8

Post University

Waterbury, CT

Post University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value General Education Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. Located in the suburb of Waterbury, Post University is a private for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Post University graduate students pay an average of $7,700 in tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

#9

Messiah University

Mechanicsburg, PA

With a ranking of #9, Messiah University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for general education students working on their graduate certificate. Messiah is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Mechanicsburg.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Messiah are $13,050 per year.

Full General Education at Messiah University Report

#10

Saint Michael's College

Colchester, VT

Saint Michael’s College ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value General Education Graduate Certificate Schools list. Saint Michael's is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Colchester.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Saint Michael’s are $11,160 a year.

Full General Education at Saint Michael’s College Report

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Value General Education Graduate Certificate Schools award.

Rank College Location
11 California State University - Sacramento Sacramento, CA
12 Liberty University Lynchburg, VA
13 Lindenwood University Saint Charles, MO

General Education by Region

View the Best Value 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.

  • 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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