Special Education is of the hottest master's degree programs in the United States, coming in as the #8 most popular major in the country. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 2 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Special Education Master's Degree Schools in Maine ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 87 master's degrees in special education during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
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.
The special ed 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 Special Education Master's Degree Schools in Maine.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Special Education in Maine
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in special education.
University of Southern Maine is a wonderful option for students pursuing a master's degree in special education. University of Southern Maine is a medium-sized public university located in the small city of Portland.
Special Education master's degree recipients from University of Southern Maine get an earnings boost of approximately $2,081 above the average income of special education graduates.
Every student who is interested in a master's degree in special education needs to take a look at University of Maine. UMaine is a fairly large public university located in the suburb of Orono.
After graduating, special ed master's recipients usually earn an average of $49,410 in their early careers.
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).
