Find Schools

Study Area & Zipcode

Best Value Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools

Find Schools Near

2023 Best Value Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

69 Colleges
$24,643 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$68,493 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Social Work Doctor's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 58,326 people earned a degree or certificate in social work, making the major the #13 most popular in the United States.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. 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.

The Best Value Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 69 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best value doctor's degree programs for social work students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

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. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value Social Work Doctor’s Degree Schools in the United States

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Social Work Doctor's Degree Colleges.

Top 10 Best Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools

#1

Capella University

Minneapolis, MN

Our analysis found Capella University to be the best value school for social work students who want to pursue a doctor’s degree in the United States. Located in the large city of Minneapolis, Capella University is a private for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Capella University graduate students pay an average of $14,784 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Social Work at Capella University

#3

Aurora University

Aurora, IL

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Aurora University is a great value for social work students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Aurora are $14,100 a year.

Aurora also claimed a spot on our Best Social Work Doctor’s Degree Schools list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools in this category.

Read full report on Social Work at Aurora University

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means University of St Thomas Minnesota is a great value for social work students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the large city of Saint Paul, UST MN is a private not-for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UST MN are $23,736 per year.

Full Social Work at University of St Thomas Minnesota Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Berkeley. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Social Work Doctor’s Degree Schools list. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public school located in the city of Berkeley.

UC Berkeley graduate students pay an average of $29,262 in tuition and fees each year.

UC Berkeley also claimed a spot on our Best Social Work Doctor’s Degree Schools list. It’s in the top 5% of all schools in this category.

Full Social Work at University of California - Berkeley Report

Kutztown University of Pennsylvania landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value doctor’s degree social work programs. Kutztown University is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Kutztown.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Kutztown University are $16,997 per year.

Read More…

University of California - Los Angeles landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value doctor’s degree social work programs. UCLA is a very large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

UCLA graduate students pay an average of $28,138 in tuition and fees each year.

UCLA also claimed a spot on our Best Social Work Doctor’s Degree Schools list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools in this category.

Read full report on Social Work at University of California - Los Angeles

The University of Texas at Austin ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Social Work Doctor’s Degree Schools list. UT Austin is a fairly large public school located in the city of Austin.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UT Austin are $22,944 a year.

In addition to its great value ranking, UT Austin is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Social Work Doctor’s Degree Schools list.

Read More…

Millersville University of Pennsylvania landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value doctor’s degree social work programs. Millersville is a moderately-sized public school located in the suburb of Millersville.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Millersville are $16,794 a year.

Read full report on Social Work at Millersville University of Pennsylvania

#10

University of Houston

Houston, TX

With a ranking of #10, University of Houston did quite well on this year’s best value schools for social work students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the large city of Houston, UH is a public college with a very large student population.

UH graduate students pay an average of $18,871 in tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Value Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools award.

Rank College Location
11 University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI
12 Loyola University Chicago Chicago, IL
13 Jackson State University Jackson, MS

Social Work by Region

View the Best Value Social Work Doctor's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

Social Work is one of 5 different types of programs to choose from.

Majors Similar to Social Work

Related Major Annual Graduates
Public Administration 16,905
Human Services 13,238
Public Policy 6,430
Community Organization & Advocacy 3,096
Other Public Administration 588

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 Army Medicine.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

Featured Schools

Find Schools Near You

Our free school finder matches students with accredited colleges across the U.S.