Special Education is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #8 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 Arizona to determine which ones were the best for special education students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 2,693 master's degrees in special education to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Special Education School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of special education for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
Other Factors We Consider
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to special education students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of special education students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
Student Debt - How much debt special education students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized special education related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for special education students working on their master's degree.
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 Master's Degree Schools in Arizona.
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Grand Canyon University is a wonderful choice for students pursuing a master's degree in special education. Located in the large city of Phoenix, Grand Canyon University is a private for-profit university with a very large student population.
Students who graduate with their master's from the special ed program report average early career wages of $54,232.
Northern Arizona University is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in special education. Located in the small city of Flagstaff, NAU is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Master's recipients from the special education major at Northern Arizona University make $3,255 more than the typical college graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Arizona State University - Tempe is a wonderful choice for individuals interested in a master's degree in special education. ASU - Tempe is a very large public university located in the medium-sized city of Tempe.
After graduating, special ed master's recipients typically make about $55,916 at the beginning of their careers.
Arizona State University - Skysong is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in special education. Located in the medium-sized city of Scottsdale, ASU - Skysong is a public university with a very large student population.
After graduation, special ed master's recipients generally make around $55,916 in the first five years of their career.
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).
Your choice of special education for getting your master's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
