If you plan on getting your bachelor's degree in special education, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #55 in the country in terms of popularity. This means you won't have too much trouble finding schools that offer the degree.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 16 schools in Pennsylvania to determine which ones were the best for special education students pursuing a bachelor's degree. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 813 bachelor's degrees in special education during the 2022-2023 academic year.
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Choosing a Great Special Education School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of special education for getting your bachelor'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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
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 ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
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 bachelor's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their bachelor's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
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 - How many other special education students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
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 easy is it for special education to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
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 bachelor's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Special Education Bachelor's Degree Schools in Pennsylvania list, to help you choose the best school for you.
In addition to College Factual's rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you.
When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don't forget it.
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Saint Joseph's University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in special education. St. Joe's is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the city of Philadelphia.
Bachelor's recipients from the special education degree program at Saint Joseph's University make $3,382 above the average college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Slippery Rock University of Pennsylvania is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in special education. SRU is a medium-sized public university located in the town of Slippery Rock.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the special ed program earn an average of $43,480 in the first couple years of their career.
Kutztown University of Pennsylvania is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in special education. Kutztown University is a moderately-sized public university located in the town of Kutztown.
Special Education bachelor's degree recipients from Kutztown University of Pennsylvania receive an earnings boost of around $3,329 above the typical earnings of special education majors.
Indiana University of Pennsylvania - Main Campus is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in special education. Located in the distant town of Indiana, IUP is a public university with a medium-sized student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the special ed program state that they receive average early career earnings of $44,121.
Located in the suburb of Millersville, Millersville is a public university with a moderately-sized student population.
Special Education bachelor's degree recipients from Millersville University of Pennsylvania get an earnings boost of approximately $4,348 over the average earnings of special education majors.
East Stroudsburg University is a moderately-sized public university located in the fringe town of East Stroudsburg.
Bachelor's recipients from the special education program at East Stroudsburg University of Pennsylvania make $3,011 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
Ship is a medium-sized public university located in the town of Shippensburg.
Special Education bachelor's degree recipients from Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania receive an earnings boost of about $2,519 above the average earnings of special education majors.
Located in the suburb of Annville, LVC is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Special Education bachelor's degree recipients from Lebanon Valley College get an earnings boost of about $4,099 over the average earnings of special education graduates.
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 bachelor'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. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
