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Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in North Carolina

2023 Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in North Carolina

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

10 Colleges
$14,172 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$61,137 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Education Graduate Certificate School for You

In 2020-2021, education students earned 7,730 degrees and certificates from a North Carolina school, making the subject the 4th in the state.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

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 North Carolina ranking. This report analyzed 10 schools in North Carolina to see which ones offered the best value graduate certificate programs for education students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

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 University of North Carolina at Charlotte the best value school in North Carolina for education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of Charlotte, UNC Charlotte is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UNC Charlotte are $7,713 a year.

UNC Charlotte not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #4 on our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in North Carolina list.

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#2

East Carolina University

Greenville, NC

The excellent graduate certificate programs at East Carolina University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value education schools in North Carolina. ECU is a very large public school located in the small city of Greenville.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at ECU are $7,594 a year.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Appalachian State University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in North Carolina list. Appalachian State is a very large public school located in the distant town of Boone.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Appalachian State are $8,007 a year.

Appalachian State also took the #5 spot in our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in North Carolina rankings.

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Out of the 10 schools in North Carolina that were part of this year’s ranking, University of North Carolina at Wilmington landed the # 4 spot on the list. UNCW is a fairly large public school located in the city of Wilmington.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UNCW are $7,514 per year.

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A rank of #5 on this year’s list means North Carolina State University is a great value for education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the large city of Raleigh, NC State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

NC State graduate students pay an average of $11,703 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, NC State is ranked #2 for overall quality for education in North Carolina.

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Western Carolina University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate education programs. Located in the distant town of Cullowhee, WCU is a public college with a large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at WCU are $7,480 per year.

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University of North Carolina at Greensboro 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 large city of Greensboro, UNC Greensboro is a public college with a fairly large student population.

UNC Greensboro graduate students pay an average of $8,265 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#8

Gardner - Webb University

Boiling Springs, NC

Gardner - Webb University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in North Carolina ranking. Located in the town of Boiling Springs, Gardner - Webb is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Gardner - Webb are $10,130 per year.

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#9

Wingate University

Wingate, NC

With a ranking of #9, Wingate University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the large suburb of Wingate, Wingate is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Wingate are $11,700 per year.

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#10

Duke University

Durham, NC

With a ranking of #10, Duke University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the large city of Durham, Duke is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Duke are $59,141 a year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Duke is ranked #1 for overall quality for education in North Carolina.

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Best Value Education Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Value Education Schools in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
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

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 10 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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