2024 Best Special Education Schools in the Southeast Region
140Colleges in the Southeast Region
5,866Special Ed Degrees Awarded
$42,190Avg Early-Career Salary
Special Education is of the hottest degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #29 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual reviewed 140 schools in the Southeast Region to determine which ones were the best for degree seekers in the field of special education. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 5,866 degrees in special education during the 2020-2021 academic year.
Your choice of special education school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Special Education School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
You may want to choose one of the degree levels below to find the schools of most interest to you.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Special Education Schools in the Southeast Region list to help you make the college decision.
More interested in schools in a specific area of the country? Filter this list by region or state.
To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you.
Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Best Schools for Special Education in the Southeast Region
The schools below may not offer all types of special ed degrees so you may want to filter by degree level first. However, they are great for the degree levels they do offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
Any student who is interested in special education has to take a look at Vanderbilt University. Vanderbilt is a large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Nashville. A Best Colleges rank of #19 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Vanderbilt is a great university overall.
There were roughly 54 special education students who graduated with this degree at Vanderbilt in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the special education major at Vanderbilt University make $5,005 above the standard graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
It is difficult to beat George Mason University if you wish to pursue a degree in special education. GMU is a very large public university located in the suburb of Fairfax. A Best Colleges rank of #117 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means GMU is a great university overall.
There were about 397 special education students who graduated with this degree at GMU in the most recent data year. Degree recipients from the special education degree program at George Mason University earn $16,898 more than the standard graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Every student who is interested in special education needs to look into University of Florida. Located in the city of Gainesville, UF is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #58 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UF is a great university overall.
There were roughly 87 special education students who graduated with this degree at UF in the most recent year we have data available. Students who graduate with their degree from the special ed program state that they receive average early career wages of $43,645.
University of Georgia is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in special education. Located in the midsize city of Athens, UGA is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #72 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UGA is a great university overall.
There were approximately 75 special education students who graduated with this degree at UGA in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, special ed degree recipients generally earn an average of $42,959 in their early careers.
Auburn is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Auburn. A Best Colleges rank of #154 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Auburn is a great university overall.
There were approximately 90 special education students who graduated with this degree at Auburn in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the special ed program make an average of $40,254 in the first couple years of working.
Located in the midsize city of Tallahassee, Florida State is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #121 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Florida State is a great university overall.
There were approximately 30 special education students who graduated with this degree at Florida State in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the city of Charlotte, UNC Charlotte is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 6th out of 93 schools for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were approximately 84 special education students who graduated with this degree at UNC Charlotte in the most recent year we have data available. After graduating, special ed degree recipients typically make about $40,960 in their early careers.
Located in the small city of Tuscaloosa, UA is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #139 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UA is a great university overall.
There were roughly 57 special education students who graduated with this degree at UA in the most recent data year. Graduates who receive their degree from the special ed program make an average of $41,366 for their early career.
Located in the large suburb of Clemson, Clemson is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #107 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Clemson is a great university overall.
There were roughly 41 special education students who graduated with this degree at Clemson in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the special ed program state that they receive average early career income of $36,090.
Located in the city of Fayetteville, UARK is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #198 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UARK is a great university overall.
There were roughly 42 special education students who graduated with this degree at UARK in the most recent data year.
UK is a very large public university located in the city of Lexington. A Best Colleges rank of #230 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UK is a great university overall.
There were roughly 51 special education students who graduated with this degree at UK in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduating, special ed degree recipients typically make around $37,223 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population. This university ranks 12th out of 63 colleges for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were approximately 494 special education students who graduated with this degree at Liberty University in the most recent data year. Soon after graduating, special ed degree recipients usually make about $38,042 in their early careers.
Lipscomb is a small private not-for-profit university located in the large city of Nashville. This university ranks 6th out of 45 schools for overall quality in the state of Tennessee.
There were about 29 special education students who graduated with this degree at Lipscomb in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the special ed program earn around $43,222 in their early career salary.
Located in the town of Milledgeville, Georgia College is a public university with a moderately-sized student population. This university ranks 16th out of 68 colleges for overall quality in the state of Georgia.
There were about 74 special education students who graduated with this degree at Georgia College in the most recent data year. Those special education students who get their degree from Georgia College & State University make $2,003 more than the typical special ed student.
Located in the distant town of Boone, Appalachian State is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 9th out of 93 colleges for overall quality in the state of North Carolina.
There were about 117 special education students who graduated with this degree at Appalachian State in the most recent year we have data available. Soon after graduation, special ed degree recipients generally earn an average of $37,368 in the first five years of their career.
Located in the remote town of Mississippi State, Mississippi State is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #284 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Mississippi State is a great university overall.
There were about 61 special education students who graduated with this degree at Mississippi State in the most recent year we have data available. Graduates who receive their degree from the special ed program make about $34,610 for their early career.
Located in the small city of Cleveland, Lee University is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population. This university ranks 15th out of 45 colleges for overall quality in the state of Tennessee.
There were roughly 14 special education students who graduated with this degree at Lee University in the most recent data year. Students who receive their degree from the special ed program earn about $37,093 in the first couple years of working.
Located in the city of Pensacola, UWF is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 31st out of 77 colleges for overall quality in the state of Florida.
There were about 303 special education students who graduated with this degree at UWF in the most recent year we have data available. Those special education students who get their degree from The University of West Florida receive $2,056 more than the standard special ed graduate.
Located in the city of Jacksonville, UNF is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 15th out of 77 colleges for overall quality in the state of Florida.
There were roughly 31 special education students who graduated with this degree at UNF in the most recent year we have data available. Special Education degree recipients from University of North Florida get an earnings boost of approximately $3,984 above the average income of special education graduates.
UofM is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Memphis. This university ranks 9th out of 45 colleges for overall quality in the state of Tennessee.
There were about 69 special education students who graduated with this degree at UofM in the most recent year we have data available. Students who receive their degree from the special ed program earn an average of $39,898 in their early career salary.
FIU is a very large public university located in the large suburb of Miami. A Best Colleges rank of #183 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means FIU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 69 special education students who graduated with this degree at FIU in the most recent year we have data available. Special Education degree recipients from Florida International University get an earnings boost of approximately $11,387 above the average income of special education graduates.
Rest of the Top Best Special Education Schools in the Southeast Region
Additional Noteworthy Schools
Here are some additional great schools for Special Education students in the Southeast Region that almost earned our Best Special Education Schools in the Southeast Region award.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
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).
college factual
Your choice of special education school matters, so we have put together these rankings to help you make your decision. For our Best Overall Special Education School rankings, we roll up the results of our degree-level rankings, weighted by the number of degrees awarded at that level.
