2023 Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast 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.
There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast Region to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 129 schools in the Southeast 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.
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. 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.
Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.
Top 15% Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools
Our 2023 rankings named Piedmont College the best value school in the Southeast Region for education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the distant town of Demorest, Piedmont College is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Piedmont College are $11,020 per year.
Piedmont College excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast Region list.
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Out of the 129 schools in the Southeast Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Carson - Newman University landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the small suburb of Jefferson City, Carson - Newman is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Carson - Newman are $9,632 a year.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Henderson State University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast Region list. Located in the distant town of Arkadelphia, Henderson State University is a public school with a small student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Henderson State University are $9,108 per year.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Union College Kentucky. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast Region list. Located in the town of Barbourville, Union College 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 Union College are $8,210 a year.
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Out of the 129 schools in the Southeast Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Nicholls State University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Nicholls State University is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of Thibodaux.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Nicholls State University are $9,177 a year.
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With a ranking of #6, Anderson University South Carolina did quite well on this year’s best value schools for education students working on their graduate certificate. Anderson University South Carolina is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Anderson.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Anderson University South Carolina are $11,643 a year.
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Union 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. Located in the small city of Jackson, Union is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Union graduate students pay an average of $11,666 in tuition and fees each year.
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Eastern Mennonite University ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast Region list. Eastern Mennonite is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Harrisonburg.
Eastern Mennonite graduate students pay an average of $15,270 in tuition and fees each year.
As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Eastern Mennonite also is in the top 10% of our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast Region ranking.
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Freed-Hardeman 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 #9 on the list. Located in the distant town of Henderson, FHU is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at FHU are $10,980 per year.
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Arkansas State University - Main Campus came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. A-State is a large public school located in the city of Jonesboro.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at A-State are $11,408 per year.
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Converse College came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Converse is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Spartanburg.
Converse graduate students pay an average of $7,698 in tuition and fees each year.
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Gardner - Webb University landed the #12 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate education programs. Located in the distant town of Boiling Springs, Gardner - Webb 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 Gardner - Webb are $10,130 a year.
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University of West Alabama did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #13 on the list. Located in the remote area of Livingston, University of West Alabama is a public school with a medium-sized student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at University of West Alabama are $13,546 per year.
University of West Alabama excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast Region list.
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University of Lynchburg did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #14 on the list. Lynchburg is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Lynchburg.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Lynchburg are $11,759 a year.
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Liberty University came in at #15 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Liberty University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Lynchburg.
Liberty University graduate students pay an average of $8,360 in tuition and fees each year.
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Wingate University ranked #16 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast Region list. Located in the large suburb of Wingate, Wingate is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Wingate are $11,700 per year.
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Southern Arkansas University Main Campus came in at #16 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Located in the town of Magnolia, Southern Arkansas University Main Campus is a public school with a small student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Southern Arkansas University Main Campus are $9,882 per year.
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Southern Wesleyan 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 #18 on the list. SWU is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Central.
SWU graduate students pay an average of $13,726 in tuition and fees each year.
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Brenau University came in at #19 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Brenau is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Gainesville.
Brenau graduate students pay an average of $13,940 in tuition and fees each year.
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Request InformationAdditional Noteworthy Schools
Here are some additional great value schools for Education students in the Southeast Region seeking value that almost earned our Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in the Southeast Region award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 20 | University of Southern Mississippi | Hattiesburg, MS |
| 21 | University of North Georgia | Dahlonega, GA |
| 22 | Louisiana Tech University | Ruston, LA |
| 23 | Augusta University | Augusta, GA |
| 24 | American Public University System | Charles Town, WV |
| 25 | Georgia Southwestern State University | Americus, GA |
Best Education Colleges by State
Explore the best education schools for a specific state in the Southeast region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| North Carolina | 7,730 |
| West Virginia | 1,515 |
| Mississippi | 4,219 |
| South Carolina | 3,980 |
| Florida | 10,069 |
| Virginia | 9,522 |
| Arkansas | 4,954 |
| Alabama | 5,059 |
| Kentucky | 5,329 |
| Georgia | 9,722 |
| Tennessee | 5,194 |
| Louisiana | 2,977 |
More Education Rankings in the Southeast 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 Majors Related to Education
| 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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