If you plan on getting your master's degree in child development & psychology, you won't be alone since the degree program is ranked #80 in the country in terms of popularity. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
College Factual looked at 2 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Child Development & Psychology Master's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 303 master's degrees in child development & psychology during the 2022-2023 academic year.
DEBUG: Checking offer "MS in Psychology - Child & Adolescent Development Psychology" with relevance 1
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MS in Psychology - Child & Adolescent Development Psychology" ACCEPTED (relevance 1)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Developmental Psychology (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.9
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Developmental Psychology (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.9)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Developmental Psychology (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.9
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Developmental Psychology (I Have a Masters)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.9)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Grad Cert - Child Counseling (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Grad Cert - Child Counseling (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Psychology Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Psychology Bachelors Programs (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Psychology EdS Programs (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Psychology EdS Programs (I Have a Masters)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Psychology Graduate Certificate Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Psychology Graduate Certificate Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Psychology PhD Programs (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Psychology PhD Programs (I Have a Masters)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Psychology PsyD Programs (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Psychology PsyD Programs (I Have a Masters)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Science & Engineering Masters Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "Science & Engineering Masters Programs (I Have a Bachelors)" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BA in Psychology" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "BA in Psychology" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "MS in Psychology" with relevance 0.8
DEBUG: ✓ Offer "MS in Psychology" ACCEPTED (relevance 0.8)
DEBUG: Checking offer "BA in Human Services - Child & Family Services" with relevance 0.7
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "BA in Human Services - Child & Family Services" REJECTED (relevance 0.7)
DEBUG: Checking offer "Child Development (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "Child Development (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "General Psychology (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "General Psychology (I Have a HS Diploma or Associate Degree)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "General Psychology (I Have a Bachelors)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "General Psychology (I Have a Bachelors)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: Checking offer "General Psychology (I Have a Masters)" with relevance 0.6
DEBUG: ✗ Offer "General Psychology (I Have a Masters)" REJECTED (relevance 0.6)
DEBUG: relevant_offers count = 15
DEBUG: relevant_offers > 0, checking for ESYOH offers
DEBUG: ESYOH filtering - found 11 ESYOH offers with relevance >= 0.8
DEBUG: esyoh_offers count = 11
DEBUG: ESYOH offers found, rendering ESYOH widget
DEBUG: most_relevant_only = true, filtering for most relevant
DEBUG: Found 2 offers with relevance >= 1.0
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 many resources a school devotes to child development & psychology students as compared to other majors.
Major Demand - The number of child development & psychology students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
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 child development & psychology 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 child development & psychology related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for child development & psychology students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Child Development & Psychology Schools
The child development 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 Child Development & Psychology Master's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region.
DEBUG: Raw major_slug = "psychology//child-development-psychology"
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.
by our College Data Analytics Team
