2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
There are about 97,050 students enrolled in Special Education and Teaching in the USA.
Menu: summary
popularity
Very Popular
Compared to national avg.
Diplomas received last year
33,527
Vs. National Avg.
112%
popularity Rank
#40
cost
Somewhat Affordable
Compared to national avg.
Median degree cost
$25K
Vs. National Avg.
4%
cost Rank
#242
salary
Below Average
Compared to national avg.
Average Salary Two Years Out of School
$41K
Vs. National Avg.
2%
salary Rank
#239
professors
Below Average
Compared to national avg.
Professor Rating
C+
Vs. National Avg.
0%
professors Rank
#249
students
Below Average
Compared to national avg.
Diversity Rating
C+
Vs. National Avg.
-1%
students Rank
#271
SUMMARY
Choosing to study Special Education and Teaching is not only a valuable choice, but ordinarily a mandatory first step for students planning to pursue a career as a special education teacher, a speech language pathologist, or a learning development specialist. In fact, special education and teaching is fairly popular ranking as the 57th most popular degree. Last academic year alone, there were 8,866 special education and teaching degrees conferred. In-state tuition for special education and teaching at private colleges is, on average, 3.3 times more costly than their public fellows.
There are 541 colleges which offer special education and teaching. 541 universities is on par with other programs offered in the United States. If you are looking to surround yourself with other special education and teaching students, consider institutions in Utah which have more students admitted to special education and teaching than any other state. More generally, the best region to get a degree in special education and teaching is in the Great Lakes region with Illinois State University, Bowling Green State University-Main Campus, and University of Akron Main Campus best representing the region. Interestingly, our selection for the top conference to study special education and teaching is the Mid-American Conference with Ball State University, Bowling Green State University-Main Campus, and University of Akron Main Campus representing the conference. On that topic, our belief is that the best university for special education and teaching is Vanderbilt University. You might also want to check out our list of the best colleges.
The objectively 'best' school is not necessarily the 'best' school for every student. There might be lots more angels to weigh when choosing university. Stuff like campus amenities, transportation services, and food might definitely impact your decision on where to go to university. At Authority, we have weighed the pros and cons for you. If, for example, you are interested in which special education and teaching university boasts the top campus, the answer is Boston University. If you are very interested in which college boasts the top campus, we have a whole page dedicated to that. We have carefully pored through professor reviews, student reviews, government databases, and more so we can evaluate every major in the United States in an unbiased and informative way. You can explore our comprehensive list for the schools with the best student life here and our selection of the college with the best student life for special education and teaching is University of Florida. Curious why? Keep scrolling to learn more about our top choices. Many of our picks might surprise you.
If expense is a primary factor in your decisions, you might consider avoiding Boston University. Boston University appears to be our most expensive school for special education and teaching, at least regarding out of state enrollment. We do have a page for the most expensive schools that could put the price tag at Boston University into perspective. Additionally, you may be interested to know that special education and teaching is the 183rd most expensive program in the United States, with an average expense of $31,300. To zoom out a little, the most costly state for special education and teaching on our list is Rhode Island with costs at the primary three colleges Providence College of $51,490, Rhode Island College at $21,683, and at Salve Regina University of $21,683. Even more broadly, the most costly region of the U.S. for special education and teaching is the Far West region which is best demonstrated with University of Hawaii at Manoa with a cost of $33,336, Gonzaga University with a cost of $44,280, and Seattle Pacific University with a cost of $44,604.
Our cheapest region for special education and teaching is the Rocky Mountains region which is represented by Brigham Young University-Idaho with a cost of $4,208, Brigham Young University-Provo with a cost of $5,790, and Western Governors University with a cost of $6,380. More optimistically, the most affordable university for special education and teaching is Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania. Authority.org's entire list of the most affordable schools can be explored here.
In-state attendees can anticipate paying in the neighborhood of $9,500 for a degree in special education and teaching. That cost inflates significantly to an average of $20,700 for an out-of-state public-school student. Our pick for the school representing the best value for special education and teaching: Vanderbilt University. On this page you will see our comprehensive list about the schools we see as being the best value overall. That being said, this discussion is predicated on the assumption that you are an out-of-state student. A discussion of value changes when in-state tuition is considered, as such, we are using out-of-state tuition as the baseline.
Earnings for special education and teaching majors differ widely, but two years after finishing the degree students will regularly make around $42,900. While there is a lot of variation in pay; top positions can experience pay up to $65,100. Straight out of school, the minimum earning positions within the special education and teaching space earn $28,000, which is an alright wage. The highest earning graduates for special education and teaching graduated from Vanderbilt University and if you are looking for colleges with all of the highest earning graduates, we have that too.
The all-around diversity of special education and teaching is in the bottom, ranking in only the 3rd percentile of all majors. The school with the highest composite diversity for special education and teaching is Vanderbilt University and here you can find our general list of the colleges which have the most diversity. The financial diversity of Special Education and Teaching only ranks in the 39th percentile of all majors. Racial diversity is even less in the 6th percentile. White students compose the largest proportion at 82% of students majoring in special education and teaching. Additionally, 90% of undergraduates pursuing a special education and teaching degree are women.
The median rating of special education and teaching professors is 4.3 stars, a score which is 8% higher than the median score for every major; which is a pretty good score. If you are looking for the most popular special education and teaching professor in the country, take a look at John Lynch from Arizona State University-Tempe. This may be shocking, but the top rated instructors for special education and teaching by student are found at Arizona State University-Tempe. As we incorporate data beyond basic rankings it becomes clear that the school possessing the best instructors for special education and teaching is Vanderbilt University. One can find more detail on our evolving ranking methodology for the best overall professors here, as well as many of the finest professors in the country.
Finally, the hardest school to get into for special education and teaching is Vanderbilt University. While we are unsure why you would be interested, we do have an extensive list for the hardest colleges to get into. That being said, we hope you understand that approaching university from context only derived from superlatives might cause issues. We encourage you to look at some of our other pages on individual colleges and explore a couple of our insightful background articles on useful details to think about as your school search continues.
Top 25 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
Search for the best Special Education and Teaching colleges according to your filter parameters.
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#1 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL | www.northwestern.edu/
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#2 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
University of Florida
Gainesville, FL | www.ufl.edu/
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#3 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN | www.vanderbilt.edu/
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#4 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Madison, WI | www.wisc.edu/
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#5 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign
Champaign, IL | www.illinois.edu/
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#6 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
Dordt University
Sioux Center, IA | www.dordt.edu/
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#8 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
University of Washington-Seattle Campus
Seattle, WA | www.washington.edu/
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#9 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
University of Georgia
Athens, GA | www.uga.edu/
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#10 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL | https://www.fsu.edu/
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#11 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
Ohio State University-Main Campus
Columbus, OH | www.osu.edu/
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#12 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
Brigham Young University
Provo, UT | www.byu.edu/
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#13 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
Pennsylvania State University-Main Campus
University Park, PA |
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#14 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
Texas Christian University
Fort Worth, TX | www.tcu.edu/
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#15 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
Purdue University-Main Campus
West Lafayette, IN | https://www.purdue.edu/
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#16 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN | https://twin-cities.umn.edu/
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#17 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
University of Central Florida
Orlando, FL | www.ucf.edu/
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#18 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
University of Maryland-College Park
College Park, MD | www.umd.edu/
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#19 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
Clemson University
Clemson, SC | www.clemson.edu/
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#20 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI | https://www.msu.edu/
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#21 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
University of Utah
Salt Lake City, UT | www.utah.edu/
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#22 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
Florida International University
Miami, FL | www.fiu.edu/
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#23 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
University of South Florida
Tampa, FL | www.usf.edu/
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#24 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
University of Tulsa
Tulsa, OK | https://utulsa.edu/
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#25 2024 Best Colleges for Special Education and Teaching
Dakota State University
Madison, SD | https://dsu.edu/