2024 Best Colleges for Child Development

SUMMARY

Going to school for Child Development is a valuable choice and frequently an obligatory first step for scholars aspiring to enter a career as a child life specialist, a child care teacher, or a child protective investigator. Interestingly, child development is a very rare degree being the 158th most popular major. Last academic year alone, there were 1,766 child development graduates. In-state tuition for child development at private schools is, on average, 3.1 times more spendy than their public peers.

With only 79 universities having programs for child development there might be a smaller selection of institutions which will have a degree program for you. If you're hoping to immerse yourself with other child development undergraduates, look at universities in California which have more students admitted to child development than any other state. More generally, the top region to major in child development is in the Far West region with Fresno Pacific University, Point Loma Nazarene University, and Ashford University best representing the region. Interestingly, our pick for the best conference to study child development is the Pacific West Conference with Fresno Pacific University representing the conference. From our extensive list on the best colleges, our choice for the best school for child development is Vanderbilt University.

The best school does not mean it is the best school for you. There can be many more perspectives to weigh when selecting ​university. Things like campus amenities, transportation services, and food might impact your choice of which college to attend. Here at authority.org, we examined the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you are interested in which child development college is home to the top campus, the winner is Michigan State University. If, for example, you are primarily interested in which college is home to the finest campus, we have an entire list dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through student reviews, government databases, professor reviews, and more so we can evaluate every major in an unbiased and informative way. You can explore our well researched list for the schools with the best student life&nbsphere and from that list, our choice for the school with the best student life for child development is University of Virginia-Main Campus. Are you curious why? Continue scrolling to learn more about our top recommendations. Many of our decisions will probably surprise you.

If expense is a significant deciding factor in your decisions, you might consider avoiding Tufts University. Tufts University&nbspis the most expensive college for child development, at least for out of state attendance. We do have an entire page for the most expensive&nbspuniversities that might put the cost of Tufts University&nbspinto perspective. You may also care to know that child development is the 319th most expensive program in the US, with an average bill of $22,100. On a broader scale, the most expensive state for child development nationally is Massachusetts with tuition and fees at the primary university, Tufts University, of $57,324. Even more broadly, the most expensive region of the U.S. for child development is the New England region which is best demonstrated with Goodwin College with a cost of $19,988, Tufts University with a cost of $57,324, and Colby-Sawyer College with a cost of $42,388.

Our cheapest region for child development is the Rocky Mountains region which is represented by Brigham Young University-Idaho with a cost of $4,208. In better news, the most affordable school for child development is Ashford University. Authority's full list of the most affordable universities can be found here.

In-state attendees can expect to pay in the neighborhood of $9,700 for a degree in child development. That price increases significantly to a median of $22,600 for the out-of-state public-school undergraduate. Our selection for the school constituting the best value for child development: Vanderbilt University. On this page you can see our comprehensive list on the colleges we see as being the best value&nbspin general. That being said, this list is based on the assumption that you are an out-of-state student. The value proposition changes when in-state tuition costs are considered, but we do not know in which states any one student has residency.

Earnings for child development majors can vary, but two-years after graduation students will typically make in the neighborhood of $41,100. While there is a lot of variation in earnings; highest paid earners can rake in up to $70,100. Right out of university, the minimum earning positions within the child development field make $23,900, which could be worse. The top earning graduates from child development graduated from Santa Clara University&nbspand if you want to find the colleges with all of the highest earning graduates, we have that too.

The general diversity of child development falls subpar, coming in the 31st percentile of majors nationally. The school with the most composite diversity for child development is Vanderbilt University&nbspand here you can find our general list for the schools which have the most diversity. The financial diversity of the Child Development major ranks only within the 87th percentile compared to all other majors. Racial diversity is even less in the 48th percentile. White undergraduates make up the largest share, 62%, of those studying child development. Additionally, 95% of undergraduates seeking a child development major are women.

The median ranking for child development professors is 4.1 stars, a score that is 2% higher than the average across every major; this is a good ranking. If you are looking for the most popular child development professor in the country, consider looking up Alicia Mendiola from East Los Angeles College. It may be shocking, but the highest rated child development professors by student are found at Brigham Young University-Idaho. As we incorporate data other than simply rankings it becomes clear that the college possessing the best instructors for child development is Vanderbilt University. You can find an explanation of our ever evolving ranking methodology for the best overall professors here, along with some of the best examples of professors nationwide.

Finally, the hardest college to get into for child development is Vanderbilt University. While we do not necessarily see the value in it, we do have a detailed page of the hardest colleges to get into. Although, here at Authority we hope you believe that looking at academics with a lens only built on superlatives can create issues. We at Authority hope you look at some of our more focused pages on different universities and peruse a couple of Authority's background pages on beneficial things to consider as your university search continues.