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Most Popular Special Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California

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2023 Most Popular Special Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California

15 Colleges
$49,862 Avg Salary
$22,246 Avg Student Debt

Finding the Best Special Education Graduate Certificate School for You

Special Education is the #16 most popular major in California with 1,632 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

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 that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Most Popular Special Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 15 schools in California to see which graduate certificate programs were the most popular for students. To create this ranking we looked at how many students graduated from the Special Education program at each school on the list.

Check out the special ed graduate certificate programs at these schools if you want to attend one of the most popular in California.

Our analysis found University of Southern California to be the most popular school for special education students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in California. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.

Women make up 89% of the special ed majors at the school.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Saint Mary’s College of California. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Popular Special Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. SMC is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Moraga.

About 86% of the students majoring in special ed at the school are women while 14% are male.

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#3

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA

Out of the 15 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, San Francisco State University landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the large city of San Francisco, SFSU is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Women make up 97% of the special ed majors at the school.

Full Special Education at San Francisco State University Report

Out of the 15 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Los Angeles landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, Cal State LA is a public school with a fairly large student population.

About 81% of the students majoring in special ed at the school are women while 19% are male.

Read full report on Special Education at California State University - Los Angeles

#5

Holy Names University

Oakland, CA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Holy Names University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Popular Special Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Oakland, HNU is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Women make up 87% of the special ed majors at the school.

Read full report on Special Education at Holy Names University

The in-demand graduate certificate programs at California State University - Long Beach helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the most popular special education schools in California. CSULB is a very large public school located in the large city of Long Beach.

About 87% of the students majoring in special ed at the school are women while 13% are male.

Read More…

#7

Mills College

Oakland, CA

With a ranking of #7, Mills College did quite well on this year’s most popular schools for special education students working on their graduate certificate. Mills is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Oakland.

Read full report on Special Education at Mills College

California State University - Northridge ranked #8 on this year’s Most Popular Special Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Located in the city of Northridge, CSUN is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Full Special Education at California State University - Northridge Report

#9

Mount Saint Mary's University

Los Angeles, CA

Mount Saint Mary’s University landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular graduate certificate special education programs. Located in the city of Los Angeles, MSMU is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Full Special Education at Mount Saint Mary’s University Report

#9

National University

La Jolla, CA

National University landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the most popular graduate certificate special education programs. Located in the large city of La Jolla, National University is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

Read full report on Special Education at National University

Best Special Education Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Most Popular Special Education Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 90
Oregon 180
Nevada 147
Hawaii 28
Alaska 46

One of 14 majors within the area of study, special education has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Educational Administration 45,458
Teacher Education Grade Specific 34,451
General Education 21,189
Teacher Education Subject Specific 20,616
Curriculum & Instruction 19,784

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 15 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 woodleywonderworks.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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