2023 Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region
Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices
Finding the Best Education Graduate Certificate School for You
With 327,871 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, education is the #4 most popular major in the United States.
When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.
To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 73 schools in the Great Lakes Region 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.
This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.
For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.
Top 10 Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools
Our 2023 rankings named Wisconsin Lutheran College the best value school in the Great Lakes Region for education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the large city of Milwaukee, WLC is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at WLC are $10,080 a year.
WLC did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.
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A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Viterbo University is a great value for education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the small city of La Crosse, Viterbo is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Viterbo are $9,488 a year.
As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Viterbo also is in the top 20% of our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking.
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Out of the 73 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Concordia University, Chicago landed the # 3 spot on the list. Concordia University, Chicago is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of River Forest.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Concordia University, Chicago are $9,378 a year.
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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Ferris State University is a great value for education students working on their graduate certificate. Ferris is a fairly large public school located in the distant town of Big Rapids.
Ferris graduate students pay an average of $8,232 in tuition and fees each year.
Read full report on Education at Ferris State University
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Out of the 73 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Olivet Nazarene University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the suburb of Bourbonnais, Olivet Nazarene is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Olivet Nazarene graduate students pay an average of $12,190 in tuition and fees each year.
In addition to its great value ranking, Olivet Nazarene is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.
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Illinois State University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #6 on the list. Illinois State is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized suburb of Normal.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Illinois State are $11,773 a year.
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Baldwin Wallace University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #7 on the list. Baldwin Wallace College is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Berea.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Baldwin Wallace College are $11,363 per year.
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University of St Francis 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. University of Saint Francis is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Joliet.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at University of Saint Francis are $13,839 a year.
As a testament to the quality of education it offers, University of Saint Francis also is in the top 10% of our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking.
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McKendree University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. McKendree is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Lebanon.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at McKendree are $9,756 a year.
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With a ranking of #10, Concordia University, Wisconsin did quite well on this year’s best value schools for education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the suburb of Mequon, Concordia University, Wisconsin is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Concordia University, Wisconsin are $11,760 a year.
Concordia University, Wisconsin also claimed a spot on our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools in this category.
Read full report on Education at Concordia University, Wisconsin
Request InformationAdditional Noteworthy Schools
Here are some additional great value schools for Education students in the Great Lakes Region seeking value that almost earned our Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Marian University | Fond Du Lac, WI |
| 12 | Youngstown State University | Youngstown, OH |
| 13 | National Louis University | Chicago, IL |
| 14 | Valparaiso University | Valparaiso, IN |
Best Education Colleges by State
Explore the best education colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Indiana | 11,570 |
| Michigan | 5,939 |
| Ohio | 9,238 |
| Illinois | 10,567 |
| Wisconsin | 5,792 |
More Education Rankings in the Great Lakes Region
Education Related Majors for Education
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 |
Most Popular Related Majors
| 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 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 Horadrim.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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