2024 Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in South Carolina

Ranked #30 in popularity, criminal justice & corrections is one of the most sought-after master's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.

In 2024, College Factual analyzed 5 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in South Carolina ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 61 master's degrees in criminal justice & corrections to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Criminal Justice & Corrections School for Your Master's Degree

The criminal justice master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

Average Earnings

To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.

Other Factors We Consider

The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.

• Major Focus - How much a school focuses on criminal justice & corrections students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - How many other criminal justice & corrections students want to attend this school to pursue a master's degree.
• Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
• Student Debt - How easy is it for criminal justice & corrections to pay back their student loans after receiving their master's degree.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized criminal justice & corrections related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for criminal justice & corrections students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we've developed the Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Master's Degree Schools in South Carolina ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Criminal Justice & Corrections in South Carolina

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections.

Top South Carolina Schools for a Master's in Criminal Justice

1

Columbia College
Columbia, SC

15 Annual Graduates

$55,194 Median Starting Salary

Columbia College is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Columbia College South Carolina is a small private not-for-profit college located in the medium-sized city of Columbia.

Criminal Justice & Corrections master's degree recipients from Columbia College earn a boost of around $7,008 over the average earnings of criminal justice & corrections majors.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Columbia College

1

University of South Carolina - Columbia
Columbia, SC

7 Annual Graduates

University of South Carolina - Columbia is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the city of Columbia, UofSC is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from University of South Carolina - Columbia

2

Anderson University South Carolina
Anderson, SC

11 Annual Graduates

$50,248 Median Starting Salary

Anderson University South Carolina is a great choice for individuals interested in a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the city of Anderson, Anderson University South Carolina is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Criminal Justice & Corrections master's degree recipients from Anderson University South Carolina receive an earnings boost of approximately $2,062 above the average income of criminal justice & corrections majors.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Anderson University South Carolina

3

Charleston Southern University
Charleston, SC

12 Annual Graduates

Charleston Southern University is a wonderful choice for individuals interested in a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Located in the midsize city of Charleston, CSU is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Charleston Southern University

4

Claflin University
Orangeburg, SC

9 Annual Graduates

It's difficult to beat Claflin University if you wish to pursue a master's degree in criminal justice & corrections. Claflin is a small private not-for-profit university located in the distant town of Orangeburg.More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from Claflin University

5

South University, Columbia
Columbia, SC

7 Annual Graduates

$39,115 Median Starting Salary

South University, Columbia is a small private for-profit university located in the large suburb of Columbia.

Soon after graduation, criminal justice master's recipients usually earn an average of $39,115 in the first five years of their career.

More information about a master’s in criminal justice & corrections from South University, Columbia

Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Criminal Justice & Corrections Schools in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Florida	208	577
Georgia	190	127
Virginia	182	568
North Carolina	178	81
Tennessee	166	109
Alabama	151	211
Kentucky	147	110
Louisiana	147	201
Mississippi	145	41
Arkansas	121	18
West Virginia	112	176

View All Rankings >

Criminal Justice & Corrections Related Rankings by Major

One of 4 majors within the Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting area of study, Criminal Justice & Corrections has other similar majors worth exploring.

Criminal Justice Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
Criminal Justice	37
Criminal Justice Studies	24

Majors Similar to Criminal Justice

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Homeland Security	9

Notes and References

• 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). More about our data sources and methodologies.