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Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Illinois

2023 Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Illinois

23 Colleges
$61,137 Avg Salary
$20,697 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Education Graduate Certificate School for You

Out of the majors we analyze each year, education was ranked 4th in Illinois. In fact, 10,567 were awarded in the state in 2020-2021.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Illinois to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 23 schools in Illinois to see which ones offered the best graduate certificate programs 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 Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Illinois

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

Top 10 Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools

#1

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

Our analysis found Northwestern University to be the best school for education students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in Illinois. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Evanston.

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#2

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means University of Chicago is a great place for education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

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The excellent graduate certificate programs at University of St Francis helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best education schools in Illinois. Located in the large suburb of Joliet, University of Saint Francis is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

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#4

Olivet Nazarene University

Bourbonnais, IL

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Olivet Nazarene University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Illinois list. Olivet Nazarene is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Bourbonnais.

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Out of the 23 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, Illinois State University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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#6

Bradley University

Peoria, IL

Bradley University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Illinois list. Bradley is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Peoria.

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University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Illinois ranking. UIUC is a very large public school located in the city of Champaign.

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Loyola University Chicago did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #8 on the list. Loyola Chicago is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.

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#9

Concordia University, Chicago

River Forest, IL

Concordia University, Chicago ranked #9 on this year’s Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Illinois list. Located in the suburb of River Forest, Concordia University, Chicago is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.

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National Louis University ranked #10 on this year’s Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Illinois list. Located in the city of Chicago, NLU is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.

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Best Education Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Indiana 11,570
Michigan 5,939
Ohio 9,238
Wisconsin 5,792

Education Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Teacher Education Grade Specific 110,226
Educational Administration 46,469
Teacher Education Subject Specific 43,297
Special Education 36,792
General Education 29,810
Curriculum & Instruction 19,832
Student Counseling 13,858
Instructional Media Design 8,695
Teaching English or French 5,791
Other Education 4,858
Teaching Assistants 2,751
Educational Assessment 2,552
Multilingual Education 1,910
Education Philosophy 737
International Education 293

Related Major Annual Graduates
Social Sciences 205,984
Psychology 195,678
Communication & Journalism 120,571
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences 55,820
History 32,731

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 23 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 Horadrim.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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