2024 Best Early Childhood Education Schools in the Southeast Region
122Colleges in the Southeast Region
8,136Child development Degrees Awarded
Ranked #34 in popularity, early childhood education is one of the most sought-after degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 122 colleges and universities when compiling its 2024 Best Early Childhood Education Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 8,136 degrees in early childhood education to qualified students.
The child development program you select can have a big impact on your future. That's why we developed our collection of Best Schools for Early Childhood Education rankings. In order to come up with a best overall ranking for early childhood education schools, we combine our degree-level rankings, weighting them by the number of degrees awarded at each 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.
Early Childhood Education Rankings by Degree Level
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Early Childhood Education Schools in the Southeast Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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 Early Childhood Education in the Southeast Region
Although we recommend filtering by degree level first, you can view the list below to see which schools give the educational experience for the child development degree levels they offer. Only those schools that rank in the top 15% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
18 Top Southeast Region Schools in Child development
Every student pursuing a degree in early childhood education has to check out University of Georgia. UGA is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Athens. A Best Colleges rank of #72 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UGA is a great university overall.
There were approximately 170 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UGA in the most recent year we have data available.
Any student who is interested in early childhood education has to look into University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Located in the city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #43 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UNC Chapel Hill is a great university overall.
There were roughly 115 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UNC Chapel Hill in the most recent data year.
University of Central Florida is a wonderful decision for students interested in a degree in early childhood education. Located in the suburb of Orlando, UCF is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #193 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UCF is a great university overall.
There were approximately 103 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UCF in the most recent year we have data available.
Clemson University is a wonderful option for students interested in a degree in early childhood education. Clemson is a very large public university located in the large suburb of Clemson. A Best Colleges rank of #107 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Clemson is a great university overall.
There were roughly 35 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Clemson in the most recent data year.
Located in the midsize city of Columbia, UofSC is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #152 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means UofSC is a great university overall.
There were roughly 84 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UofSC in the most recent data year.
Located in the large suburb of Miami, FIU is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #183 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means FIU is a great university overall.
There were approximately 240 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at FIU in the most recent data year.
Located in the large city of Tampa, USF Tampa is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #229 out of 2,217 colleges nationwide means USF Tampa is a great university overall.
There were about 16 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at USF Tampa in the most recent data year.
KSU Georgia is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Kennesaw. This university ranks 15th out of 68 colleges for overall quality in the state of Georgia.
There were roughly 14 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at KSU Georgia in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the large city of Lexington, UK is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #230 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UK is a great university overall.
There were approximately 4 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UK in the most recent data year.
Louisiana State University is a fairly large public university located in the medium-sized city of Baton Rouge. A Best Colleges rank of #271 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Louisiana State University is a great university overall.
There were about 24 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Louisiana State University in the most recent data year.
Located in the small city of Auburn, Auburn is a public university with a fairly large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #154 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means Auburn is a great university overall.
There were roughly 61 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Auburn in the most recent data year.
UF is a fairly large public university located in the city of Gainesville. A Best Colleges rank of #58 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means UF is a great university overall.
There were about 16 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UF in the most recent data year.
Located in the city of Ocala, Rasmussen University - Florida is a private for-profit university with a medium-sized student population. This university ranks 9th out of 77 colleges for overall quality in the state of Florida.
There were roughly 641 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Rasmussen University - Florida in the most recent data year.
University of West Alabama is a moderately-sized public university located in the rural area of Livingston. This university ranks 6th out of 40 schools for overall quality in the state of Alabama.
There were approximately 91 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at University of West Alabama in the most recent year we have data available.
Located in the town of Ruston, Louisiana Tech is a public university with a fairly large student population. This university ranks 8th out of 29 colleges for overall quality in the state of Louisiana.
There were roughly 19 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Louisiana Tech in the most recent year we have data available.
Mercer is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Macon. This university ranks 4th out of 68 colleges for overall quality in the state of Georgia.
There were approximately 23 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at Mercer in the most recent data year.
UNF is a large public university located in the large city of Jacksonville. This university ranks 15th out of 77 schools for overall quality in the state of Florida.
There were approximately 35 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at UNF in the most recent data year.
Located in the large suburb of Fairfax, GMU is a public university with a very large student population. A Best Colleges rank of #117 out of 2,217 schools nationwide means GMU is a great university overall.
There were roughly 3 early childhood education students who graduated with this degree at GMU in the most recent year we have data available.
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Early Childhood 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).
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