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Best Value Education Master's Degree Schools in Virginia

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2023 Best Value Education Master's Degree Schools in Virginia

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

19 Colleges
$15,886 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$49,367 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Education Master's Degree 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 Master's Degree 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 19 schools in Virginia to see which ones offered the best value master's degree 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 Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for education majors pursuing a master's degree.

Top 10 Best Education Master's Degree Schools

#1

James Madison University

Harrisonburg, VA

Our analysis found James Madison University to be the best value school for education students who want to pursue a master’s degree in Virginia. Located in the small city of Harrisonburg, JMU is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at JMU are $12,514 per year.

JMU also took the #5 spot in our Best Education Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia rankings.

Full Education at James Madison University Report

#2

Longwood University

Farmville, VA

Out of the 19 schools in Virginia that were part of this year’s ranking, Longwood University landed the # 2 spot on the list. Longwood is a small public school located in the town of Farmville.

Longwood graduate students pay an average of $9,126 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#3

University of Mary Washington

Fredericksburg, VA

Out of the 19 schools in Virginia that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Mary Washington landed the # 3 spot on the list. UMW is a small public school located in the medium-sized suburb of Fredericksburg.

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

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#4

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, VA

The excellent master’s degree programs at Virginia Tech helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value education schools in Virginia. 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

#5

George Mason University

Fairfax, VA

The excellent master’s degree programs at George Mason University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value education schools in Virginia. GMU is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Fairfax.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at GMU are $16,644 a year.

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#6

Liberty University

Lynchburg, VA

Liberty University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Education Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia ranking. Liberty University is a very 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.

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#7

William & Mary

Williamsburg, VA

With a ranking of #7, William & Mary did quite well on this year’s best value schools for education students working on their master’s degree. William & Mary is a moderately-sized public school located in the suburb of Williamsburg.

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

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

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#8

Virginia State University

Petersburg, VA

Virginia State University ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Education Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia list. Virginia State is a small public school located in the suburb of Petersburg.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Virginia State are $11,989 a year.

Full Education at Virginia State University Report

#9

Radford University

Radford, VA

With a ranking of #9, Radford University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the small suburb of Radford, Radford is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Radford are $12,535 per year.

Read More…

#10

University of Lynchburg

Lynchburg, VA

University of Lynchburg ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Education Master’s Degree Schools in Virginia list. Lynchburg is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Lynchburg.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Lynchburg are $11,759 a year.

Full Education at University of Lynchburg Report

Best Value Education Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Value Education Colleges 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 19 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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