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Best Value General Education Basic Certificate Schools

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2023 Best Value General Education Basic Certificate Schools

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

7 Colleges
$26,447 Avg Tuition & Fees*

Finding the Best General Education Basic Certificate School for You

With 29,810 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, general education is the #5 most popular major in the United States.

With all the teaching programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Teaching Degree Search has created the Best Value General Education Basic Certificate Schools to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 7 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best value basic certificate 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. 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.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value General Education Basic Certificate Schools in the United States

The following schools top our list of the Best Value General Education Basic Certificate Colleges.

Best Schools for Affordable Quality for an Award Taking Less Than 1 Year in General Education

Our analysis found University of Wisconsin - Stout to be the best value school for general education students who want to pursue a basic certificate in the United States. Located in the distant town of Menomonie, UW - Stout is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

UW - Stout undergraduate students pay an average of $17,820 in tuition and fees each year.

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A rank of #2 on this year’s list means University of Wisconsin - Green Bay is a great value for general education students working on their basic certificate. Located in the medium-sized city of Green Bay, UW - Green Bay is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

UW - Green Bay undergraduate students pay an average of $16,091 in tuition and fees each year.

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#3

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, IN

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Purdue University - Main Campus. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value General Education Basic Certificate Schools list. Purdue is a very large public school located in the small city of West Lafayette.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Purdue are $28,794 a year.

Purdue excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 15% of all schools on our Best General Education Basic Certificate Schools list.

Full General Education at Purdue University - Main Campus Report

Out of the 7 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Nevada - Las Vegas landed the # 4 spot on the list. UNLV is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Las Vegas.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UNLV are $24,828 per year.

Read full report on General Education at University of Nevada - Las Vegas

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means University of Wisconsin - Madison is a great value for general education students working on their basic certificate. UW - Madison is a fairly large public school located in the city of Madison.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UW - Madison are $38,608 per year.

In addition to its great value ranking, UW - Madison is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best General Education Basic Certificate Schools list.

Full General Education at University of Wisconsin - Madison Report

#6

Campbellsville University

Campbellsville, KY

Campbellsville University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for general education students to get a basic certificate. It came in at #6 on the list. Campbellsville University is a large private not-for-profit school located in the town of Campbellsville.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state undergraduate student at Campbellsville University are $25,400 a year.

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#7

University of Maine

Orono, ME

University of Maine landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value basic certificate general education programs. Located in the suburb of Orono, UMaine is a public school with a large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UMaine are $33,586 per year.

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General Education by Region

View the Best Value General Education Basic Certificate Schools for a specific region near you.

Region
Southeast
New England
Rocky Mountains
Plains States
Middle Atlantic
Far Western US
Southwest
Great Lakes

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

Education Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
General Education 29,810

Related Major Annual Graduates
Teacher Education Grade Specific 110,226
Educational Administration 46,469
Teacher Education Subject Specific 43,297
Special Education 36,792
Curriculum & Instruction 19,832

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 7 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 KOKUYO.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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