2025 Best General Education Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region
General Education is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #12 most popular major in the country. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
College Factual looked at 20 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best General Education Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Combined, these schools handed out 1,282 master's degrees in general education to qualified students.
Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great General Education School for Your Master's Degree
The education 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
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 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
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
- Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to general education students as compared to other majors.
- Major Demand - How many other general education students want to attend this school to pursue a master'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 general 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 general education related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for general education students working on their master's degree.
One Size Does Not Fit All
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 General Education Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list to help you make the college decision.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study General Education in the Great Lakes Region
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in general education.
10 Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Master's in Education
Purdue University - Main Campus is a wonderful decision for students interested in a master's degree in general education. Purdue is a fairly large public university located in the city of West Lafayette.
Those general education students who get their master's degree from Purdue University - Main Campus make $5,815 more than the typical education graduate.
More information about a master’s in general education from Purdue University - Main Campus
It's difficult to beat University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign if you wish to pursue a master's degree in general education. Located in the small city of Champaign, UIUC is a public university with a very large student population.
General Education master's degree recipients from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign get an earnings boost of around $7,640 above the typical earnings of general education majors.
More information about a master’s in general education from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Every student who is interested in a master's degree in general education has to look into University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. U-M is a fairly large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor.
After graduation, education master's recipients generally earn an average of $52,160 in their early careers.
More information about a master’s in general education from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Every student who is interested in a master's degree in general education has to take a look at Ohio State University - Main Campus. Ohio State is a very large public university located in the city of Columbus.
After graduating, education master's recipients usually earn about $48,780 in the first five years of their career.
More information about a master’s in general education from Ohio State University - Main Campus
Located in the small city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Master's students who receive their degree from the education program earn about $53,417 in the first couple years of their career.
More information about a master’s in general education from Michigan State University
