2025 Best Music Education Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region

Ranked #104 in popularity, music education is one of the most sought-after bachelor's degree programs in the nation. So, there are lots of possibilities to explore when you're trying to determine where you want to get your degree.

College Factual looked at 53 colleges and universities when compiling its 2025 Best Music Education Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 474 bachelor's degrees in music education during the 2022-2023 academic year.

What's on this page: * Our Methodology

• Best Bachelor’s Degree Schools List

Choosing a Great Music Education School for Your Bachelor's Degree

The music teacher education bachelor'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. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:

Overall Quality Is a Must

The overall quality of a bachelor'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 ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.

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 music education students vs. other majors.
• Major Demand - The number of music education students who choose to seek a bachelor'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.
• Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized music education related body.

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

One Size Does Not Fit All

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

To further help you make the college decision, we've developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Music Education in the Plains States Region

Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in music education. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.

10 Top Plains States Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Music Teacher Education

1

University of Nebraska - Lincoln
Lincoln, NE

21 Annual Graduates

Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in music education has to look into University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Located in the large city of Lincoln, UNL is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in music education from University of Nebraska - Lincoln

2

Minnesota State University - Mankato
Mankato, MN

4 Annual Graduates

Minnesota State University - Mankato is a great option for students pursuing a bachelor's degree in music education. Minnesota State Mankato is a large public university located in the city of Mankato.More information about a bachelor’s in music education from Minnesota State University - Mankato

3

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities
Minneapolis, MN

9 Annual Graduates

University of Minnesota - Twin Cities is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in music education. UMN Twin Cities is a fairly large public university located in the large city of Minneapolis.More information about a bachelor’s in music education from University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

4

Winona State University
Winona, MN

3 Annual Graduates

Winona State University is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in music education. Located in the town of Winona, Winona State is a public university with a medium-sized student population.More information about a bachelor’s in music education from Winona State University

5

Martin Luther College
New Ulm, MN

7 Annual Graduates

MLC is a fairly small private not-for-profit college located in the town of New Ulm.More information about a bachelor’s in music education from Martin Luther College

6

Saint Cloud State University
Saint Cloud, MN

2 Annual Graduates

Located in the small city of Saint Cloud, St. Cloud State University is a public university with a fairly large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in music education from Saint Cloud State University

7

University of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA

27 Annual Graduates

UNI is a moderately-sized public university located in the small city of Cedar Falls.More information about a bachelor’s in music education from University of Northern Iowa

8

Emporia State University
Emporia, KS

10 Annual Graduates

Located in the town of Emporia, ESU is a public university with a small student population.More information about a bachelor’s in music education from Emporia State University

9

University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA

13 Annual Graduates

Located in the city of Iowa City, Iowa is a public university with a very large student population.More information about a bachelor’s in music education from University of Iowa

10

Iowa State University
Ames, IA

14 Annual Graduates

Iowa State is a fairly large public university located in the small city of Ames.More information about a bachelor’s in music education from Iowa State University

Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great schools for Music Education students in the Plains States Region that almost earned our Best Music Education Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Plains States Region award.

Rank	College	Location
11	Wayne State College	Wayne, NE
12	Pittsburg State University	Pittsburg, KS
13	Minnesota State University - Moorhead	Moorhead, MN
14	Valley City State University	Valley City, ND
15	Northwest Missouri State University	Maryville, MO
16	University of Minnesota - Duluth	Duluth, MN
17	Hastings College	Hastings, NE

Best Music Education Colleges by State

Explore the best music education colleges for a specific state in the Plains States Region .

State	Colleges	Degrees Awarded
Missouri	475	109
Minnesota	446	93
Iowa	403	99
Kansas	352	83
Nebraska	331	37
North Dakota	251	14
South Dakota	237	41

View All Rankings >

Music Education Related Rankings by Major

One of 37 majors within the Teacher Education Subject Specific area of study, Music Education has other similar majors worth exploring.

Majors Similar to Music Teacher Education

Related Major	Annual Graduates
Physical Education Teaching & Coaching	476
English & Language Arts Education	238
Social Studies Education	206
Mathematics Education	164
Agricultural Teacher Education	157
Art Education	145
Social Science Teacher Education	134
Health Education	89
History Education	79
Business and Innovation/Entrepreneurship Teacher Education	59

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 Aparajita Datta. More about our data sources and methodologies.