2024 Best General Education Master's Degree Schools in the New England 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.

For its 2024 ranking, College Factual looked at 22 schools in the New England Region to determine which ones were the best for general education students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 1,348 master's degrees in general education to qualified students.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Master’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great General Education School for Your Master's Degree

Your choice of general education for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality education program can vary widely even among the top schools. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:

Quality Overall Is Important

The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a quality education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we consider a college's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a host of various factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

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

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 general education students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of general education 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 much debt general 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 general education related body.

Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for general education students working on their master's degree.

More Ways to Rank General Education Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best General Education Master's Degree Schools in the New England Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.

 

Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study General Education in the New England Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in general education.

10 Top New England Region Schools for a Master's in Education

1

Harvard University
Cambridge, MA

561 Annual Graduates

$60,047 Median Starting Salary

Every student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in general education needs to check out Harvard University. Located in the city of Cambridge, Harvard is a private not-for-profit university with a fairly large student population.

Those general education students who get their master's degree from Harvard University receive $8,503 more than the average education graduate.

More information about a master’s in general education from Harvard University

2

Tufts University
Medford, MA

7 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a master's degree in general education has to look into Tufts University. Located in the suburb of Medford, Tufts is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in general education from Tufts University

3

University of Vermont
Burlington, VT

6 Annual Graduates

It's hard to beat University of Vermont if you wish to pursue a master's degree in general education. Located in the city of Burlington, UVM is a public university with a large student population.More information about a master’s in general education from University of Vermont

4

Emmanuel College Massachusetts
Boston, MA

10 Annual Graduates

Emmanuel College Massachusetts is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in general education. Located in the large city of Boston, Emmanuel Boston is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.More information about a master’s in general education from Emmanuel College Massachusetts

4

Worcester State University
Worcester, MA

12 Annual Graduates

It is hard to beat Worcester State University if you want to pursue a master's degree in general education. Located in the city of Worcester, Worcester State is a public university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a master’s in general education from Worcester State University

5

Saint Michael's College
Colchester, VT

57 Annual Graduates

$53,516 Median Starting Salary

Located in the medium-sized suburb of Colchester, Saint Michael's is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the education program state that they receive average early career wages of $53,516.

More information about a master’s in general education from Saint Michael’s College

5

Fairfield University
Fairfield, CT

6 Annual Graduates

Located in the large suburb of Fairfield, Fairfield U is a private not-for-profit university with a moderately-sized student population.More information about a master’s in general education from Fairfield University

6

Bay Path University
Longmeadow, MA

42 Annual Graduates

$55,347 Median Starting Salary

Located in the large suburb of Longmeadow, Bay Path is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Master's recipients from the general education degree program at Bay Path University get $3,803 more than the standard college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.

More information about a master’s in general education from Bay Path University

7

Clark University
Worcester, MA

21 Annual Graduates

$48,148 Median Starting Salary

Located in the city of Worcester, Clark is a private not-for-profit university with a small student population.

Students who graduate with their master's from the education program report average early career wages of $48,148.

More information about a master’s in general education from Clark University

8

Lesley University
Cambridge, MA

20 Annual Graduates

$52,191 Median Starting Salary

Lesley is a small private not-for-profit university located in the midsize city of Cambridge.

Students who graduate with their master's from the education program state that they receive average early career income of $52,191.

More information about a master’s in general education from Lesley University

Best General Education Colleges by State

Explore the best general education schools for a specific state in the New England Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Massachusetts	222	777
Connecticut	153	305
Rhode Island	127	24
New Hampshire	108	90
Vermont	91	87
Maine	90	65

View All Rankings >

General Education Related Rankings by Major

General Education is one of 14 different types of Education programs to choose from.

Education Concentrations

Major	Annual Graduates
General Education	1,348

Most Popular Related Majors

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Teacher Education Grade Specific	1,708
Special Education	1,575
Teacher Education Subject Specific	1,163
Curriculum & Instruction	1,117
Educational Administration	935
Student Counseling	446
Other Education	406
Teaching English or French	319
Instructional Media Design	202
International Education	25

Notes and References

• 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).
• Credit for the banner image above goes to KOKUYO. More about our data sources and methodologies.