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.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 6 schools in Virginia to determine which ones were the best for special education students pursuing a degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 1,175 degrees in special education annually.
The special ed program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Special Education rankings. 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.
In order to find the schools that are the best fit for you, you may want to filter to one of the degree levels below.
The special ed school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we've developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of the Best Special Education Schools in Virginia.
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.
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.
Any student pursuing a degree in special education needs to check out George Mason University. Located in the suburb of Fairfax, GMU is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #92 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means GMU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 385 special education students who graduated with this degree at GMU in the most recent data year. Those special education students who get their degree from George Mason University make $9,350 more than the standard special ed grad.
It's hard to beat Liberty University if you wish to pursue a degree in special education. Liberty University is a very large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Lynchburg. A Best Colleges rank of #265 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means Liberty University is a great university overall.
There were approximately 452.99999999999994 special education students who graduated with this degree at Liberty University in the most recent year we have data available. After graduating, special ed degree recipients generally earn around $48,010 in their early careers.
Old Dominion University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a degree in special education. Old Dominion is a very large public university located in the city of Norfolk. This university ranks 16th out of 57 colleges for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were roughly 74 special education students who graduated with this degree at Old Dominion in the most recent data year. Soon after graduation, special ed degree recipients usually make about $54,351 in their early careers.
It's hard to beat Radford University if you wish to pursue a degree in special education. Located in the fringe town of Radford, Radford is a public university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 20th out of 57 colleges for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were about 54 special education students who graduated with this degree at Radford in the most recent data year. Students who graduate with their degree from the special ed program report average early career earnings of $50,536.
VCU is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Richmond. A Best Colleges rank of #189 out of 2,152 schools nationwide means VCU is a great university overall.
There were about 75 special education students who graduated with this degree at VCU in the most recent year we have data available. After graduation, special ed degree recipients generally make about $52,470 in their early careers.
Located in the large city of Virginia Beach, Regent is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population. This university ranks 21st out of 57 schools for overall quality in the state of Virginia.
There were approximately 25 special education students who graduated with this degree at Regent 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 $53,714.
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).
The special ed program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Special Education rankings. 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.
