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Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia

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2023 Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

18 Colleges
$15,180 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$61,137 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Education Graduate Certificate School for You

Education is the most popular major in Virginia with 7,400 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right 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 that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

The Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia ranking is one of many tools that Grad Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 18 schools in Virginia to see which ones offered the best value graduate certificate programs for education students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

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. 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.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

2023 Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia

Check out the education graduate certificate programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools

#1

James Madison University

Harrisonburg, VA

Our 2023 rankings named James Madison University the best value school in Virginia for education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of Harrisonburg, JMU is a public school with a fairly large student population.

JMU graduate students pay an average of $12,514 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#2

Eastern Mennonite University

Harrisonburg, VA

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Eastern Mennonite University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia list. Eastern Mennonite is a small private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Harrisonburg.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Eastern Mennonite are $15,270 a year.

Eastern Mennonite also made our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia list, coming in at #5.

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#3

Radford University

Radford, VA

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Radford University is a great value for education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the small suburb of Radford, Radford is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

Radford graduate students pay an average of $12,535 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Education at Radford University

#4

University of Lynchburg

Lynchburg, VA

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of Lynchburg. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia list. Lynchburg is a small private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Lynchburg.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Lynchburg are $11,759 per year.

Read full report on Education at University of Lynchburg

#5

Liberty University

Lynchburg, VA

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Liberty University. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia list. Liberty University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Lynchburg.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Liberty University are $8,360 per year.

Read full report on Education at Liberty University

#6

George Mason University

Fairfax, VA

George Mason University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #6 on the list. GMU is a very large public school located in the large suburb of Fairfax.

GMU graduate students pay an average of $16,644 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, GMU is ranked #3 for overall quality for education in Virginia.

Full Education at George Mason University Report

#7

Old Dominion University

Norfolk, VA

Old Dominion University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia list. Old Dominion is a fairly large public school located in the city of Norfolk.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Old Dominion are $13,224 per year.

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#8

University of Mary Washington

Fredericksburg, VA

University of Mary Washington ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia list. UMW is a small public school located in the midsize suburb of Fredericksburg.

UMW graduate students pay an average of $11,388 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Education at University of Mary Washington Report

#9

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, VA

Virginia Tech did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #9 on the list. Virginia Tech is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Blacksburg.

Virginia Tech graduate students pay an average of $16,522 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Virginia Tech is ranked #2 for overall quality for education in Virginia.

Read full report on Education at Virginia Tech

#10

William & Mary

Williamsburg, VA

William & Mary did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #10 on the list. William & Mary is a medium-sized public school located in the small suburb of Williamsburg.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at William & Mary are $16,618 per year.

William & Mary also took the #4 spot in our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia rankings.

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Best Value Education Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Value Education Schools in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Mississippi 2,371
Florida 5,192
North Carolina 4,150
Tennessee 3,386
Georgia 6,283
South Carolina 2,297
Louisiana 1,732
West Virginia 924
Kentucky 3,387
Arkansas 3,395
Alabama 3,231

Education Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Educational Administration 45,458
Teacher Education Grade Specific 34,451
Special Education 25,158
General Education 21,189
Teacher Education Subject Specific 20,616
Curriculum & Instruction 19,784
Student Counseling 13,840
Instructional Media Design 8,387
Teaching English or French 4,743
Other Education 2,513
Multilingual Education 1,672
Educational Assessment 1,215
Education Philosophy 421
International Education 257
Teaching Assistants 20

Related Major Annual Graduates
Psychology 42,013
Social Sciences 22,292
Communication & Journalism 12,242
Library Science 5,929
History 4,391

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 18 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 Horadrim.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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