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Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools

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2023 Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

106 Colleges
$14,822 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$42,822 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate School for You

In 2020-2021, 149,215 visual and performing arts students received their degrees and certificates, making the major the #10 most popular in the country.

It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. 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 assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. This report analyzed 106 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best value graduate certificate programs for visual and performing arts students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools in the United States

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Colleges.

Top 15% Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools

#1

Messiah University

Mechanicsburg, PA

Our 2023 rankings named Messiah University the best value school in the United States for visual and performing arts students working on their graduate certificate. Messiah is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Mechanicsburg.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Messiah are $13,050 per year.

Full Visual & Performing Arts at Messiah University Report

#2

Hood College

Frederick, MD

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Hood College. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the small city of Frederick, Hood 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 Hood are $9,080 a year.

Hood also claimed a spot on our Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.

Read full report on Visual & Performing Arts at Hood College

#3

Lindenwood University

Saint Charles, MO

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Lindenwood University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools list. Lindenwood University is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Saint Charles.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Lindenwood University are $9,784 a year.

Read More…

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Arizona State University - Skysong. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools list. ASU - Skysong is a very large public school located in the medium-sized city of Scottsdale.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at ASU - Skysong are $9,982 per year.

ASU - Skysong also claimed a spot on our Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.

Read More…

#5

Liberty University

Lynchburg, VA

Out of the 106 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Liberty University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the small city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.

Liberty University graduate students pay an average of $8,360 in tuition and fees each year.

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University of Central Arkansas ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools list. UCA is a large public school located in the small city of Conway.

UCA graduate students pay an average of $11,835 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Visual & Performing Arts at University of Central Arkansas Report

Western Illinois University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate visual and performing arts programs. WIU is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Macomb.

WIU graduate students pay an average of $12,182 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Visual & Performing Arts at Western Illinois University Report

#8

Marywood University

Scranton, PA

Marywood University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. Marywood is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Scranton.

Marywood graduate students pay an average of $11,438 in tuition and fees each year.

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Southern Illinois University Edwardsville ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools list. Located in the suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public college with a large student population.

SIUE graduate students pay an average of $9,316 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Visual & Performing Arts at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Report

Northern Illinois University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for visual and performing arts students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #10 on the list. Located in the suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public college with a large student population.

NIU graduate students pay an average of $11,390 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Visual & Performing Arts at Northern Illinois University Report

Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania landed the #11 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate visual and performing arts programs. Located in the small city of Bloomsburg, Bloomsburg is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Bloomsburg are $16,731 per year.

Read full report on Visual & Performing Arts at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania

#12

The Graduate Center, CUNY

New York, NY

The Graduate Center, CUNY landed the #12 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate visual and performing arts programs. The Graduate Center is a moderately-sized public school located in the city of New York.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at The Graduate Center are $23,640 per year.

The Graduate Center excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools list.

Read full report on Visual & Performing Arts at The Graduate Center, CUNY

#13

Montclair State University

Montclair, NJ

Montclair State University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for visual and performing arts students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #13 on the list. Montclair State is a very large public school located in the suburb of Montclair.

Montclair State graduate students pay an average of $13,519 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Visual & Performing Arts at Montclair State University Report

West Chester University of Pennsylvania came in at #14 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. Located in the large suburb of West Chester, WCUPA is a public college with a large student population.

WCUPA graduate students pay an average of $16,758 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Visual & Performing Arts at West Chester University of Pennsylvania

Missouri State University - Springfield came in at #15 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools ranking. Missouri State is a very large public school located in the city of Springfield.

Missouri State graduate students pay an average of $12,618 in tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great value schools for Visual & Performing Arts students seeking value that almost earned our Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools award.

Rank College Location
16 Texas Tech University Lubbock, TX
17 Towson University Towson, MD
18 Bowling Green State University - Main Campus Bowling Green, OH
19 The University of Texas at Austin Austin, TX
20 Texas State University San Marcos, TX
21 University of Wisconsin - Madison Madison, WI

Visual & Performing Arts by Region

View the Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Graduate Certificate Schools for a specific region near you.

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

Visual & Performing Arts Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts 37,413
Design & Applied Arts 36,301
Music 25,910
Drama & Theater Arts 17,341
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 16,778
General Visual & Performing Arts 6,355
Arts & Media Management 4,788
Dance 3,288
Other Visual Art 912
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry 119
Community/Environmental/Socially-Engaged Art 10

Related Major Annual Graduates
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities 556,813
English Language & Literature 54,635
Foreign Languages & Linguistics 33,333
Theology & Religious Vocations 27,459
Philosophy & Religious Studies 19,993

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 Bonnielou2013.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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