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Best Colleges for Special Education

50 Special Education programs ranked by real graduate earnings, debt, and completion — from the College Scorecard Field-of-Study data.

⚡Quick answer

For Special Education, California State University-Los Angeles (California) ranks #1 by our outcome score, with median graduate earnings of $104,208. Rankings reflect earnings, debt, and completion — not reputation or cost — across 50 programs with published outcome data.

#	School	Credential	Median earnings	Median debt	Completers	Score
1	California State University-Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA	Master's Degree	$104,208	$20,500	63	94.5
2	California State University-Long Beach Long Beach, CA	Master's Degree	$91,444	$17,157	29	93.6
3	College of Staten Island CUNY Staten Island, NY	Master's Degree	$86,157	$18,524	41	93.5
4	Utah State University Logan, UT	Bachelor's Degree	$74,535	$11,250	80	91.7
5	CUNY Queens College Queens, NY	Master's Degree	$85,359	$21,433	60	91.5
6	California Lutheran University Thousand Oaks, CA	Master's Degree	$81,041	$14,600	23	90.9
7	CUNY City College New York, NY	Master's Degree	$94,601	$23,914	55	90.5
8	CUNY Brooklyn College Brooklyn, NY	Master's Degree	$90,918	$24,807	130	90.3
9	Touro University California Vallejo, CA	Master's Degree	$84,787	$16,063	14	89.9
10	CUNY Lehman College Bronx, NY	Master's Degree	$84,758	$25,000	147	88.6
11	Touro University New York, NY	Master's Degree	$80,111	$24,332	705	87.9
12	California State University-Dominguez Hills Carson, CA	Master's Degree	$95,089	—	41	86.9
13	California State University-Fullerton Fullerton, CA	Master's Degree	$95,677	$25,320	—	85.7
14	San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA	Master's Degree	$76,580	$24,072	64	85.4
15	California State University-San Bernardino San Bernardino, CA	Master's Degree	$87,254	—	35	85.3
16	University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT	Master's Degree	$73,872	$20,689	39	85.3
17	Manhattan College Riverdale, NY	Master's Degree	$87,967	$25,131	22	84.9
18	California State University-Northridge Northridge, CA	Master's Degree	$85,826	—	35	84.8
19	George Mason University Fairfax, VA	Master's Degree	$72,192	$23,695	267	84.5
20	California State University-Fresno Fresno, CA	Master's Degree	$80,228	—	51	84.1
21	CUNY Hunter College New York, NY	Master's Degree	$88,978	$30,530	226	84.1
22	University of West Georgia Carrollton, GA	Master's Degree	$74,278	$22,800	39	83.9
23	Adelphi University Garden City, NY	Graduate/Professional Certificate	$79,784	—	53	83.6
24	Northern Arizona University Flagstaff, AZ	Graduate/Professional Certificate	$80,727	$23,645	18	83.4
25	Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, CA	Master's Degree	$85,524	—	26	83.4
26	Notre Dame de Namur University Belmont, CA	Master's Degree	$94,588	—	18	83.3
27	California State University-East Bay Hayward, CA	Master's Degree	$81,760	—	33	83.1
28	CUNY Lehman College Bronx, NY	Graduate/Professional Certificate	$102,329	—	13	82.8
29	Concordia University-Chicago River Forest, IL	Master's Degree	$67,237	$16,300	34	82.7
30	Manhattan College Riverdale, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$83,932	$26,246	26	82.7
31	CUNY Medgar Evers College Brooklyn, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$66,377	$5,500	39	82.5
32	San Diego State University San Diego, CA	Master's Degree	$84,034	—	—	82.3
33	Northeastern Illinois University Chicago, IL	Master's Degree	$65,769	$13,262	56	82.3
34	Relay Graduate School of Education New York, NY	Graduate/Professional Certificate	$82,785	—	—	82.1
35	Alliant International University-San Diego San Diego, CA	Non-Credential Program (Preparatory Coursework/Teacher Certification)	$82,744	—	—	82
36	State University of New York at Cortland Cortland, NY	Bachelor's Degree	$74,079	—	86	81.6
37	Rowan University Glassboro, NJ	Master's Degree	$72,243	$24,176	39	81.3
38	St. John's University-New York Queens, NY	Master's Degree	$84,195	$31,800	106	81.2
39	Vanderbilt University Nashville, TN	Doctoral Degree	$98,012	—	6	81.1
40	University of Hawaii at Manoa Honolulu, HI	Post-baccalaureate Certificate	$67,076	$14,707	—	81
41	Johns Hopkins University Baltimore, MD	Graduate/Professional Certificate	$96,711	—	6	81
42	Pace University New York, NY	Master's Degree	$91,867	$37,830	127	81
43	California State University-Monterey Bay Seaside, CA	Non-Credential Program (Preparatory Coursework/Teacher Certification)	$80,481	—	—	81
44	Dominican University River Forest, IL	Master's Degree	$76,142	—	34	80.8
45	Rutgers University-New Brunswick New Brunswick, NJ	Master's Degree	$66,728	$20,500	80	80.7
46	Molloy College Rockville Centre, NY	Master's Degree	$73,479	$26,300	60	80.7
47	St. Thomas Aquinas College Sparkill, NY	Master's Degree	$76,928	—	31	80.7
48	California Lutheran University Thousand Oaks, CA	Non-Credential Program (Preparatory Coursework/Teacher Certification)	$79,956	—	—	80.6
49	Manhattanville College Purchase, NY	Master's Degree	$79,921	$29,882	84	80.6
50	Florida Memorial University Miami Gardens, FL	Master's Degree	$82,237	—	16	80.4

🔍 Filter Special Education by state & degree level →

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Hidden Gems for Special Education

Lower-profile schools with a genuinely strong outcome score for Special Education — the famous brand names and mega-flagships are deliberately filtered out.

#	School	Median earnings	Admit rate	Score
1	College of Staten Island CUNY Staten Island, NY Strong Special Education outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$86,157	92%	93.5
2	California Lutheran University Thousand Oaks, CA Strong Special Education outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$81,041	76%	90.9
3	Touro University California Vallejo, CA Strong Special Education outcome score, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$84,787	—	89.9
4	California State University-Dominguez Hills Carson, CA Strong Special Education outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$95,089	93%	86.9
5	Manhattan College Riverdale, NY Strong Special Education outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$87,967	79%	84.9
6	Notre Dame de Namur University Belmont, CA Strong Special Education outcome score, smaller, lower-profile campus	$94,588	—	83.3
7	California State University-East Bay Hayward, CA Strong Special Education outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$81,760	97%	83.1
8	Concordia University-Chicago River Forest, IL Strong Special Education outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$67,237	93%	82.7
9	CUNY Medgar Evers College Brooklyn, NY Strong Special Education outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$66,377	86%	82.5
10	Northeastern Illinois University Chicago, IL Strong Special Education outcome score, accessible admissions, smaller, lower-profile campus	$65,769	75%	82.3
11	Relay Graduate School of Education New York, NY Strong Special Education outcome score, smaller, lower-profile campus	$82,785	—	82.1
12	St. John's University-New York Queens, NY Strong Special Education outcome score, accessible admissions, lower-profile than the field’s famous names	$84,195	83%	81.2

Hidden Gems use the same College Scorecard outcome score, then drop the pool’s most-selective brands (bottom-quartile admit rate) and largest campuses (top-quartile enrollment). Schools that don’t report admit rate or enrollment are not dropped by that guard.

How we ranked this

Programs are scored 0–100 within the Special Education field (CIP 13.10) using three College Scorecard figures: median graduate earnings (weighted 70%), median federal-loan debt (20%, inverted so lower debt scores higher), and completer count (10%, log-scaled). Each input is percentile-ranked against the other Special Education programs, so the score is robust to outliers and comparable across schools. Programs with no published earnings are excluded — never given a fabricated number. This is the same engine that powers our interactive Major Rankings. Minimum 5 scorable programs required to publish.

Frequently asked questions

Which college has the best Special Education program?+

By our outcome score, California State University-Los Angeles (California) ranks #1 for Special Education, with median graduate earnings of $104,208.

How are these Special Education programs ranked?+

Each program gets a 0–100 outcome score from three real College Scorecard figures: median graduate earnings (70%), median federal-loan debt (20%, lower is better), and completer count (10%). Programs are compared within the major so the score reflects the best schools for this field specifically.

Where does the earnings and debt data come from?+

The U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Field-of-Study file, which publishes median earnings and median debt by institution and major (4-digit CIP). Figures are post-graduation medians; programs without published earnings are not scored and are omitted from this ranking.

Can I filter Special Education programs by state or degree level?+

Yes. This page shows the national top programs; use the interactive Major Rankings tool to filter the same data by state, and by credential level (bachelor’s, master’s, doctoral).

Keep exploring

🔍 Special Education rankings (filterable)🎓 All major rankings 🏫 Browse colleges 🆓 Tuition-free colleges ⭐ All Best-Of guides

Data sources: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (Field of Study) · IPEDS Completions. Figures are the most recent values published in each federal dataset; cells with no published value are shown as “—” and never estimated. CertiHomes Education does not sell rankings or accept placement fees.