2023 Best Value Music Undergraduate Certificate Schools
Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices
Finding the Best Music Undergraduate Certificate School for You
Music is the #43 most popular major in the country with 25,910 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.
When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.
To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Music Undergraduate Certificate Schools ranking. This report analyzed 7 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best value undergraduate certificate programs for music 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.
Best Schools for Affordable Quality for an Award Taking 1 to 4 Years in Music
Our analysis found El Centro College to be the best value school for music students who want to pursue a undergraduate certificate in the United States. El Centro College is a very large public school located in the large city of Dallas.
El Centro College undergraduate students pay an average of $6,000 in tuition and fees each year. While working on their Undergraduate Certificate, music majors at El Centro College accumulate an average of around $17,198 in student debt.
In addition to its great value ranking, El Centro College is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Music Undergraduate Certificate Schools list.
Full Music at El Centro College Report
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A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Macomb Community College is a great value for music students working on their undergraduate certificate. Macomb Community College is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized city of Warren.
Macomb Community College undergraduate students pay an average of $7,680 in tuition and fees each year.
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Out of the 7 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Nashville State Community College landed the # 3 spot on the list. Nashville State Community College is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of Nashville.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Nashville State Community College are $17,188 per year. After completing their Undergraduate Certificate, music graduates from Nashville State Community College carry an average student debtload of $10,626.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Missouri Southern State University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Music Undergraduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the small city of Joplin, Missouri Southern is a public college with a small student population.
Missouri Southern undergraduate students pay an average of $15,896 in tuition and fees each year.
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The excellent undergraduate certificate programs at Longy School of Music of Bard College helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value music schools in the United States. Longy is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Cambridge.
Longy undergraduate students pay an average of $48,800 in tuition and fees each year.
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Berklee College of Music ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Music Undergraduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the large city of Boston, Berklee College of Music is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Berklee College of Music are $46,800 per year. On average, music graduates from Berklee College of Music take out $30,589 in student loans while working on their Undergraduate Certificate.
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Yale University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Music Undergraduate Certificate Schools ranking. Located in the city of New Haven, Yale is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Yale are $59,950 a year.
Full Music at Yale University Report
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View the Best Value Music Undergraduate Certificate Schools for a specific region near you.
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| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
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Other Related Music Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
Earn the music business degree that fits into the business world – and partners Southern New Hampshire University with world-renowned Berklee College of Music.
Music Related Majors for Music
One of 10 majors within the area of study, music has other similar majors worth exploring.
Majors Similar to Music
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Fine & Studio Arts | 37,413 |
| Design & Applied Arts | 36,301 |
| Drama & Theater Arts | 17,341 |
| Film, Video & Photographic Arts | 16,778 |
| General Visual & Performing Arts | 6,355 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 7 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).
More about our data sources and methodologies.