2023 Best Value Social Work Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region
Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices
Finding the Best Social Work Master's Degree School for You
Social Work is the #13 most popular major in the country with 58,326 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.
When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.
To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Value Social Work Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. This report analyzed 70 schools in the Southeast Region to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for social work 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 Social Work Master's Degree Schools
Our 2023 rankings named Union University the best value school in the Southeast Region for social work students working on their master’s degree. Located in the small city of Jackson, Union 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 Union are $11,666 a year.
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The excellent master’s degree programs at Southern Adventist University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value social work schools in the Southeast Region . Located in the suburb of Collegedale, Southern Adventist 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 Southern Adventist are $11,880 a year.
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The excellent master’s degree programs at Concord University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value social work schools in the Southeast Region . Concord University is a small public school located in the town of Athens.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Concord University are $9,450 per year.
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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Arkansas State University - Main Campus is a great value for social work students working on their master’s degree. A-State is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Jonesboro.
A-State graduate students pay an average of $11,408 in tuition and fees each year.
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The excellent master’s degree programs at Campbellsville University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value social work schools in the Southeast Region . Located in the town of Campbellsville, Campbellsville University is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.
Campbellsville University graduate students pay an average of $8,773 in tuition and fees each year.
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University of North Alabama ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Social Work Master’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list. Located in the city of Florence, UNA is a public school with a medium-sized student population.
UNA graduate students pay an average of $13,860 in tuition and fees each year.
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Spalding University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Social Work Master’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list. Spalding is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Louisville.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Spalding are $12,106 a year.
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University of Southern Mississippi landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree social work programs. Southern Miss is a fairly large public school located in the city of Hattiesburg.
Southern Miss graduate students pay an average of $11,204 in tuition and fees each year.
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Northern Kentucky University landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree social work programs. NKU is a large public school located in the suburb of Highland Heights.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at NKU are $15,594 a year.
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The University of Tennessee - Chattanooga ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Social Work Master’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list. Located in the city of Chattanooga, UT Chattanooga is a public college with a large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UT Chattanooga are $18,538 a year.
Full Social Work at The University of Tennessee - Chattanooga Report
Request InformationAdditional Noteworthy Schools
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 Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | Jackson State University | Jackson, MS |
| 12 | University of Memphis | Memphis, TN |
| 13 | University of Arkansas at Little Rock | Little Rock, AR |
| 14 | Radford University | Radford, VA |
Best Social Work Colleges by State
Explore the best social work colleges for a specific state in the Southeast region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Georgia | 753 |
| Virginia | 1,010 |
| North Carolina | 1,757 |
| Florida | 1,569 |
| Tennessee | 1,237 |
| Kentucky | 1,510 |
| South Carolina | 383 |
| Louisiana | 859 |
| Arkansas | 405 |
| Alabama | 1,173 |
| Mississippi | 595 |
| West Virginia | 316 |
More Social Work Rankings in the Southeast Region
Social Work Related Majors for Social Work
One of 5 majors within the area of study, social work has other similar majors worth exploring.
Most Popular Majors Related 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 26 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.