2023 Best Value Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Prices
There are so many programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one for you. 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 and bootcamps that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.
The Best Value Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 11 schools in Iowa to see which graduate certificate programs offered the best value experiences for students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.
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. 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.
For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.
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Top Value Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa
Learn more about these excellent schools below:
Our analysis found Northwestern College to be the best value school for students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in Iowa. NWC is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Orange City, Iowa. It awarded 3 graduate certificates in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at NWC are $6,360 a year.
One thing to take note of is that NWC does offer online graduate classes in some areas. In 2019-2020 about 94% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
NWC also took the #1 spot in our Best Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa rankings.
The excellent graduate certificate programs at Simpson College helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value schools in Iowa. Located in Indianola, Iowa, the small private not-for-profit school handed out 3 graduate certificate awards in 2020-2021.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Simpson College are $6,606 per year.
Simpson College does offer online graduate classes for certain degree levels. In fact, around 38% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Simpson College not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #5 on our Best Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa list.
A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Morningside College is a great place for students working on their graduate certificate who want the most bang for their educational buck. Located in Sioux City, Iowa, the small private not-for-profit school handed out 8 graduate certificate awards in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Morningside are $6,516 a year.
Morningside is one of the schools on our list that is primarily online. Each graduate student at the school took at least one class online.
A rank of #4 on this year’s list means University of Iowa is a great place for students working on their graduate certificate who want the most bang for their educational buck. This large public school is located in Iowa City, Iowa, and it awarded 1,262 graduate certificates in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Iowa are $31,012 a year.
One thing to take note of is that Iowa does offer online graduate classes in some areas. During the 2019-2020 year, about 33% of the graduate students at the school took at least one online course.
Iowa also took the #3 spot in our Best Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa rankings.
A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Iowa State University is a great place for students working on their graduate certificate who want the most bang for their educational buck. Iowa State University is a large public school located in Ames, Iowa that handed out 230 graduate certificates in 2020-2021.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Iowa State are $26,948 per year.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Iowa State. In 2019-2020 about 54% of the graduate students at the school chose to take one or more online courses.
In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Iowa State is ranked #4 for overall quality in Iowa.
With a ranking of #6, Graceland University - Lamoni did quite well on this year’s best value schools for students working on their graduate certificate. Graceland Lamoni is a private not-for-profit institution located in Lamoni, Iowa. The school has a small population, and it awarded 28 graduate certificates in 2020-2021.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Graceland Lamoni are $11,187 per year.
Graceland Lamoni is one of the schools on our list that is primarily online. Each graduate student at the school took at least one class online.
Briar Cliff University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate programs. This small private not-for-profit school is located in Sioux City, Iowa, and it awarded 8 graduate certificates in 2020-2021.
Briar Cliff graduate students pay an average of $10,530 in tuition and fees each year.
Online graduate courses are available at Briar Cliff, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 64% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Grand View University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa ranking. Grand View University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Des Moines, Iowa. The school has a small population, and it awarded 1 graduate certificates in 2020-2021.
Grand View University graduate students pay an average of $9,440 in tuition and fees each year.
Online graduate courses are available at Grand View University, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 89% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Saint Ambrose University landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate programs. St. Ambrose University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Davenport, Iowa. The school has a small population, and it awarded 7 graduate certificates in 2020-2021.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at St. Ambrose University are $18,640 a year.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at St. Ambrose University. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 15% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, St. Ambrose University is ranked #2 for overall quality in Iowa.
With a ranking of #10, Upper Iowa University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for students working on their graduate certificate. Located in Fayette, Iowa, the small private not-for-profit school awarded 3 diplomas to qualifed graduate certificate students in 2020-2021.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UIU are $19,685 per year.
Online graduate courses are available at UIU, but you will need to check with the school to see if they are available for your field of interest. In fact, around 92% of the graduate population registered for at least one online class in 2019-2020.
Clarke University came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Graduate Certificate Schools in Iowa ranking. Dubuque, Iowa is the setting for this very small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out graduate certificates to 3 students in 2020-2021.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Clarke are $14,147 per year.
Some students may be able to take online graduate classes at Clarke. To give an idea of how popular online courses are at the school, 7% of graduates took at least one course online in 2019-2020.
Best Value Graduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region
View Best Value Graduate Certificate Schools Nationwide >
More Iowa Rankings
Notes and References
Footnotes
*These averages are for the top 11 schools only.
References
- 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 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).
- Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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