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Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in North Carolina

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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.

2023 Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in North Carolina

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for education majors pursuing a graduate certificate.

Top 10 Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools

Our analysis found University of North Carolina at Charlotte to be the best value school for education students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in North Carolina. Located in the large city of Charlotte, UNC Charlotte is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UNC Charlotte are $7,713 per year.

UNC Charlotte also took the #4 spot in our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in North Carolina rankings.

Full Education at University of North Carolina at Charlotte Report

#2

East Carolina University

Greenville, NC

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means East Carolina University is a great value for education students working on their graduate certificate. ECU is a very large public school located in the small city of Greenville.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at ECU are $7,594 per year.

Full Education at East Carolina University Report

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Appalachian State University is a great value for education students working on their graduate certificate. Appalachian State is a fairly large public school located in the town of Boone.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Appalachian State are $8,007 per year.

Appalachian State did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in North Carolina list.

Read More…

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of North Carolina at Wilmington. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in North Carolina 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.

Full Education at University of North Carolina at Wilmington Report

The excellent graduate certificate programs at North Carolina State University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value education schools in North Carolina. Located in the large city of Raleigh, NC State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at NC State are $11,703 per year.

NC State also took the #2 spot in our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in North Carolina rankings.

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With a ranking of #6, Western Carolina University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the town of Cullowhee, WCU is a public college with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at WCU are $7,480 a year.

Full Education at Western Carolina University Report

With a ranking of #7, University of North Carolina at Greensboro did quite well on this year’s best value schools for education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of Greensboro, UNC Greensboro is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UNC Greensboro are $8,265 per year.

Full Education at University of North Carolina at Greensboro Report

#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 distant 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.

Read More…

#9

Wingate University

Wingate, NC

Wingate University ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in North Carolina list. Located in the large suburb of Wingate, Wingate is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Wingate are $11,700 a year.

Full Education at Wingate University Report

#10

Duke University

Durham, NC

Duke University ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in North Carolina list. 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.

Read full report on Education at Duke University

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
South Carolina 3,980
Florida 10,069
Virginia 9,522
Arkansas 4,954
Mississippi 4,219
Louisiana 2,977
Alabama 5,059
Kentucky 5,329
Georgia 9,722
Tennessee 5,194

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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