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Best Value Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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2023 Best Value Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

8 Colleges
$37,524 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$48,724 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Social Work Graduate Certificate School for You

With 33,631 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, social work is the #6 most popular major in the United States.

There are so many programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one for you. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Grad Degree Search has developed this Best Value Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 8 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which graduate certificate programs offered the best value experiences for social work 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.

2023 Best Value Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for social work majors pursuing a graduate certificate.

Best Great Lakes Region Schools for Affordable Quality for a Postbaccalaureate Certificates in Social Work

#1

Aurora University

Aurora, IL

Our 2023 rankings named Aurora University the best value school in the Great Lakes Region for social work students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

Aurora graduate students pay an average of $14,100 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Social Work at Aurora University

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Loyola University Chicago. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Loyola Chicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Loyola Chicago are $19,894 a year.

Read full report on Social Work at Loyola University Chicago

#3

Madonna University

Livonia, MI

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Madonna University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Madonna is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Livonia.

Madonna graduate students pay an average of $16,380 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Social Work at Madonna University Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. IUPUI is a fairly large public school located in the city of Indianapolis.

IUPUI graduate students pay an average of $26,529 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Social Work at Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. UWM is a very large public school located in the large city of Milwaukee.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UWM are $25,651 a year.

Read full report on Social Work at University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee

With a ranking of #6, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor did quite well on this year’s best value schools for social work students working on their graduate certificate. U-M is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized city of Ann Arbor.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at U-M are $50,464 per year.

U-M excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Full Social Work at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor Report

#7

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

University of Chicago came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in the city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UChicago are $63,936 a year.

UChicago not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #3 on our Best Social Work Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Read More…

#8

Wayne State University

Detroit, MI

With a ranking of #8, Wayne State University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for social work students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the large city of Detroit, Wayne State is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Wayne State are $38,667 a year.

Read full report on Social Work at Wayne State University

Best Social Work Colleges by State

Explore the best social work schools for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 1,332
Illinois 1,812
Ohio 1,001
Indiana 615
Wisconsin 448

Social Work is one of 5 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Public Administration 13,571
Public Policy 3,737
Human Services 1,277
Community Organization & Advocacy 741
Other Public Administration 295

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 8 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 Army Medicine.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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