If you pursue a master's degree in special education, you won't be alone. The field of study is the #8 most popular program in the country. This means there are lots of options to choose from when you decide to get your degree.
College Factual looked at 55 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Special Education Master's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 4,896 master's degrees in special education during the 2022-2023 academic year.
DEBUG: Checking offer "Special Education (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Special Education (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Special Education (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Special Education (I Have a Masters)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Special Education (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Special Education (I Have a Masters)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Grad Cert - Special Education (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Grad Cert - Special Education (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Special Education (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Special Education (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Special Education (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Special Education (I Have a Masters)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 6
DEBUG: relevant_offers > 0, checking for ESYOH offers
DEBUG: ESYOH filtering - found 6 ESYOH offers with relevance >= 0.8
DEBUG: esyoh_offers count = 6
DEBUG: ESYOH offers found, rendering ESYOH widget
DEBUG: most_relevant_only = true, filtering for most relevant
DEBUG: Found 6 offers with relevance >= 1.0
Choosing a Great Special Education School for Your Master's Degree
The special ed master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality special ed program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
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 collection of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of master's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their master's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
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 special education students vs. other majors.
Major Demand - How many other special education 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 special education 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 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.
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Special Education Master's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list to help you make the college decision.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "education//special-education"
DEBUG: Checking offer "Special Education (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Special Education (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 1
DEBUG: relevant_offers > 0, checking for ESYOH offers
DEBUG: ESYOH filtering - found 1 ESYOH offers with relevance >= 0.8
DEBUG: esyoh_offers count = 1
DEBUG: ESYOH offers found, rendering ESYOH widget
DEBUG: most_relevant_only = true, filtering for most relevant
DEBUG: Found 1 offers with relevance >= 1.0
ADBLOCK #171
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Special Education in the Middle Atlantic Region
Learn about the top ranked colleges and universities for special education students seeking a a master's degree. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
11 Top Middle Atlantic Region Schools for a Master's in Special Ed
Hunter College is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a master's degree in special education. Hunter is a very large public college located in the city of New York.
Special Education master's degree recipients from Hunter College receive an earnings boost of about $15,119 above the typical income of special education graduates.
Brooklyn College is a wonderful choice for students interested in a master's degree in special education. Located in the city of Brooklyn, Brooklyn College is a public college with a fairly large student population.
Master's recipients from the special education degree program at Brooklyn College make $15,615 more than the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in special education needs to check out Syracuse University. Located in the city of Syracuse, Syracuse is a private not-for-profit university with a very large student population.
Students who graduate with their master's from the special ed program state that they receive average early career earnings of $60,047.
The College of New Jersey is a wonderful choice for individuals pursuing a master's degree in special education. TCNJ is a medium-sized public college located in the suburb of Ewing.
Master's recipients from the special education major at The College of New Jersey earn $2,696 more than the average college graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
CCNY is a large public college located in the city of New York.
Master's recipients from the special education degree program at The City College of New York make $14,773 more than the typical graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
Located in the suburb of Brookville, LIU Post is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.
Master's recipients from the special education major at LIU Post get $13,805 above the standard college grad with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
QC is a large public college located in the city of Queens.
Special Education master's degree recipients from Queens College get an earnings boost of about $12,433 above the typical earnings of special education graduates.
Hofstra is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the large suburb of Hempstead.
Master's recipients from the special education program at Hofstra University make $14,201 more than the typical college graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
Adelphi is a medium-sized private not-for-profit university located in the suburb of Garden City.
Special Education master's degree recipients from Adelphi University get an earnings boost of around $5,510 above the typical earnings of special education graduates.
Located in the large city of Queens, STJ is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.
Master's recipients from the special education degree program at St John's University - New York get $13,378 more than the typical graduate with the same degree shortly after graduation.
DEBUG: No relevant offers, showing generic ESYOH widget
Honorable Mentions
Here are some additional great schools for Special Education students in the Middle Atlantic Region that almost earned our Best Special Education Master's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic 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).
The special ed master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality special ed program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
