2023 Best Value Social Work Master's Degree Schools
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
Finding the Best Social Work Master'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.
To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Social Work Master's Degree Schools ranking. Our analysis looked at 284 schools in the United States to see which master's degree programs offered the best value experiences for social work 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. 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.
Top 25 Best Schools for Affordable Quality for a Master's in Social Work
Our analysis found Minnesota State University - Mankato to be the best value school for social work students who want to pursue a master’s degree in the United States. Minnesota State Mankato is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Mankato.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Minnesota State Mankato are $9,308 a year.
Minnesota State Mankato excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Social Work Master’s Degree Schools list.
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A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Spring Arbor University is a great value for social work students working on their master’s degree. Spring Arbor is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Spring Arbor.
Spring Arbor graduate students pay an average of $8,383 in tuition and fees each year.
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Out of the 284 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Westfield State University landed the # 3 spot on the list. Westfield is a moderately-sized public school located in the large suburb of Westfield.
Westfield graduate students pay an average of $6,696 in tuition and fees each year.
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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Brigham Young University - Provo is a great value for social work students working on their master’s degree. BYU is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Provo.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at BYU are $7,700 a year.
BYU excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Social Work Master’s Degree Schools list.
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Out of the 284 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Newman University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the city of Wichita, Newman University 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 Newman University are $8,484 a year.
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Ferris State University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Social Work Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the town of Big Rapids, Ferris is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Ferris are $8,232 per year.
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Youngstown State University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Social Work Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Youngstown State University is a fairly large public school located in the city of Youngstown.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Youngstown State University are $6,931 a year.
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Fort Hays State University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for social work students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. FHSU is a fairly large public school located in the town of Hays.
FHSU graduate students pay an average of $11,376 in tuition and fees each year.
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Indiana Wesleyan University - National & Global came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Social Work Master’s Degree Schools ranking. IWU is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the rural area of Marion.
IWU graduate students pay an average of $10,440 in tuition and fees each year.
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With a ranking of #10, Arizona State University - Skysong did quite well on this year’s best value schools for social work students working on their master’s degree. ASU - Skysong is a fairly large public school located in the city of Scottsdale.
ASU - Skysong graduate students pay an average of $9,982 in tuition and fees each year.
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Anna Maria College landed the #11 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree social work programs. Anna Maria is a small private not-for-profit school located in the rural area of Paxton.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Anna Maria are $10,530 per year.
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West Texas A&M University ranked #12 on this year’s Best Value Social Work Master’s Degree Schools list. West Texas A&M University is a moderately-sized public school located in the fringe town of Canyon.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at West Texas A&M University are $8,574 a year.
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Northeastern State University came in at #13 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Social Work Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the remote town of Tahlequah, NSU is a public college with a medium-sized student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at NSU are $10,911 per year.
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With a ranking of #14, St Catherine University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for social work students working on their master’s degree. St. Kate's is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Saint Paul.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at St. Kate’s are $17,760 per year.
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With a ranking of #15, Northwest Nazarene University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for social work students working on their master’s degree. Located in the midsize suburb of Nampa, NNU 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 NNU are $10,964 a year.
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Augsburg University ranked #16 on this year’s Best Value Social Work Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the large city of Minneapolis, Augsburg is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Augsburg graduate students pay an average of $13,500 in tuition and fees each year.
As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Augsburg also is in the top 15% of our Best Social Work Master’s Degree Schools ranking.
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Park University landed the #17 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree social work programs. Park University is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Parkville.
Park University graduate students pay an average of $6,435 in tuition and fees each year.
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Marywood University ranked #19 on this year’s Best Value Social Work Master’s Degree Schools list. Marywood is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Scranton.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Marywood are $11,438 a year.
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Saint Cloud State University came in at #20 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Social Work Master’s Degree Schools ranking. St. Cloud State University is a large public school located in the small city of Saint Cloud.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at St. Cloud State University are $13,412 per year.
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With a ranking of #21, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville did quite well on this year’s best value schools for social work students working on their master’s degree. Located in the suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public school with a fairly large student population.
SIUE graduate students pay an average of $9,316 in tuition and fees each year.
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San Jose State University ranked #22 on this year’s Best Value Social Work Master’s Degree Schools list. San Jose State is a fairly large public school located in the city of San Jose.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at San Jose State are $18,790 per year.
On top of its placing in our value ranking, San Jose State also did well on our Best Social Work Master’s Degree Schools list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
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Montclair State University landed the #23 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree social work programs. Montclair State is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Montclair.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Montclair State are $13,519 a year.
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Salisbury University landed the #24 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree social work programs. Salisbury is a moderately-sized public school located in the small suburb of Salisbury.
Salisbury graduate students pay an average of $15,765 in tuition and fees each year.
In addition to its great value ranking, Salisbury is in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Social Work Master’s Degree Schools list.
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Aurora University came in at #25 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Social Work Master’s Degree Schools ranking. Located in the large suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.
Aurora graduate students pay an average of $14,100 in tuition and fees each year.
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Honorable Mentions
Here are some additional great value schools for Social Work students seeking value that almost earned our Best Value Social Work Master's Degree Schools award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 43 | University of North Dakota | Grand Forks, ND |
| 44 | Missouri State University - Springfield | Springfield, MO |
| 45 | West Chester University of Pennsylvania | West Chester, PA |
| 46 | University of California - Berkeley | Berkeley, CA |
| 46 | Concord University | Athens, WV |
| 48 | Texas Woman’s University | Denton, TX |
| 49 | California State University - Sacramento | Sacramento, CA |
| 50 | The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley | Edinburg, TX |
| 51 | Arkansas State University - Main Campus | Jonesboro, AR |
| 52 | Campbellsville University | Campbellsville, KY |
| 53 | University of Akron Main Campus | Akron, OH |
| 54 | University of Nebraska at Omaha | Omaha, NE |
| 54 | California State University - Fullerton | Fullerton, CA |
| 56 | Bridgewater State University | Bridgewater, MA |
| 56 | Western New Mexico University | Silver City, NM |
Social Work by Region
View the Best Value Social Work Master'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 |
More Social Work Rankings
Majors Related to Social Work
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.
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