Take your career to the next level with our master's in education programs.
Choose a program for your master's in education:
Community of Learning
Earn your master's degree in curriculum and instruction in just two years! This hybrid program is affordable and convenient. You’ll spend five Saturdays per semester collaborating and learning with other members in a classroom setting. Through the Community of Learning, you'll drive your own professional development.
Residency Counseling Cohort
Complete the foundation courses for your master's degree in counseling in only four semesters! Classes meet two weekends per semester. Summer courses are completely online. Classes are interactive and involve small and large group processes, discussions, and experiential skills building activities.
Special Education
Wayne State's fully online master’s degree in special education is designed to help professionals and districts meet the needs of students with exceptionalities, and their families. The program offers four unique pathways for special education professionals or for anyone with a bachelor's and/or teaching degree.
Curriculum and Instruction
Enhance your teaching, leadership, and classroom instruction skills with a master's degree in curriculum and instruction - instructional leadership. In this master’s degree program, you will explore instructional theory and new approaches to curriculum design that meet the needs of today’s elementary and secondary schools.
Counseling
After taking the foundation of courses for you master's in counseling, choose from three content areas - clinical mental health counseling, school counseling, and student affairs and college counseling. Take your foundation courses through our core counseling cohort, or via the hybrid format.
School Administration
This fully online 36- to 48-hour program offers different options to help prepare you for school leadership roles and includes a focus area in athletic administration. With an online master's degree in school administration from Wayne State, you'll be well prepared for an administrative position in an elementary or secondary school setting.
Best Master's in Education Programs
Wayne State's education master's degrees are nationally ranked and continually recognized for incredible value, successful graduates, and innovative learning.

No. 3 in the U.S.
Most Affordable Online Master's Programs, 2022
EDsmart

Most Affordable Online Master's Programs, 2022
No. 3 in the U.S.
EDsmart
EDsmart's ranking of most affordable online master's programs is the most comprehensive and well-rounded to date.The ranking includes only fully accredited schools that offer a master's program online. Rankings are based solely on average in-state graduate student tuition as published in the National Center for Education Statistics database.

No. 4 in the U.S.
Best Master's in Education Administration, 2022
Intelligent.com

Best Master's in Education Administration, 2022
No. 4 in the U.S.
Intelligent.com
Intelligent.com ranked Wayne State College as No. 4 in the U.S. for the best master's degree in education administration for 2022. For their 2022 online degree report, Intelligent.com researched over 2,900 colleges and universities, evaluating each program on the basis of flexibility, faculty, course strength, cost, and reputation. Schools on the list must also be accredited by national accreditors such as the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation (CAEP).
Learn more about our online master's in school administration

No. 6 in the U.S.
Best Online Master's in K-12 Education, 2022
Intelligent.com

Best Online Master's in K-12 Education, 2022
No. 6 in the U.S.
Intelligent.com
Intelligent.com ranked Wayne State College as No. 6 in the U.S. for the best online master's degree in K-12 education for 2022. For their 2022 online degree report, Intelligent.com researched over 2,900 colleges and universities, evaluating each program on the basis of flexibility, faculty, course strength, cost, and reputation. Schools on the list are also regionally accredited.
Learn more about our online master's degree in K-12 education (curriculum and instruction).

No. 1 in Nebraska; No. 18 in the U.S.
Top Online Master's in Educational Administration, 2021
TopEducationDegrees.com

Top Online Master's in Educational Administration, 2021
No. 1 in Nebraska; No. 18 in the U.S.
TopEducationDegrees.com
Wayne State College's online master's degree in school administration was recently ranked No. 1 in Nebraska and No. 18 overall in the U.S. by Top Education Degrees. To come up with the ranking, they compiled a list every university offering a master’s degree in Educational Administration which can be completed entirely online. We then narrowed down our list to just the 20 best by focusing on the points-based ranking system. In the event of a tie in points, the program with the lower annual out-of-state tuition cost in the higher-ranking position.
The Top Education Degrees’ mission is to provide the facts students need to find the degree programs that best suit their personal career goals. Their goal is to educate prospective students about everything they need to know as they embark on their dream educational careers.

No. 5 in the U.S.
Most Affordable Online Master's Degrees
Great Value Colleges

Most Affordable Online Master's Degrees
No. 5 in the U.S.
Great Value Colleges
A master’s degree can mean as much as $400,000 in extra earnings over the course of a career compared to holders of bachelor’s degrees. Being able to earn that degree on a budget and at your own schedule while continuing to meet personal and professional responsibilities is a marvel of the modern era. These rankings were based on tuition, student-to-faculty ratio, and national recognition. View our online master's degrees.

No. 1 in the U.S.
Best College for Educational Leadership Degree Programs, 2018-19
Schools.com

Best College for Educational Leadership Degree Programs, 2018-19
No. 1 in the U.S.
Schools.com
Wayne State College has earned the distinction of having the best educational leadership degree programs in the U.S. for 2018-19. If you're passionate about education and feel that your strengths would be best used in the upper tiers of administration, educational leadership degree programs are your stepping stone to the next level. Training in educational leadership can give you the skills you need to provide the best experience possible for your students, staff and teachers. Criteria used in ranking the top educational administration programs included tuition and fees, graduation rate, accessibility, student-to-faculty ratio, size of the program, and more.

No. 22 in the U.S.
Best Online Master's in Special Education
OnlineSchoolsReport.com

Best Online Master's in Special Education
No. 22 in the U.S.
OnlineSchoolsReport.com
OnlineSchoolsReport.com (OCR) ranked Wayne State's online master's in special education at No. 22 in the U.S. To calculate which degree programs are the best, OSR uses six data points. Three of these are school-wide, and three are program-specific.
The school-wide criteria are student satisfaction, admission rates, and the total number of programs the school offers online. In terms of program-specific data points, OSR looks at median debt of program graduates, how many degrees are offered within the program’s department, and the percentage of the school’s enrolled students who graduate from that department.

No. 15 in the U.S.
Best Online Master's in Educational Administration, 2019
OnlineMasters.com

Best Online Master's in Educational Administration, 2019
No. 15 in the U.S.
OnlineMasters.com
OnlineMasters.com, a trusted source for unbiased college rankings and higher education planning, has ranked Wayne State College’s online master’s in school administration at 15th in the U.S for 2019. The top-ranked programs were selected based on curriculum, program flexibility, affordability, and graduate outcomes. OnlineMasters.com analyzed graduate schools across the country with only the top 50 making it to the final 2019 list.
In addition to interviews and surveys from current students and alumni, they also leveraged insight gained from human resource professionals. The methodology incorporates the most recent data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) and statistical data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Most importantly, only programs from accredited nonprofit institutions were eligible.
Admission Criteria
See individual program pages for more specifics on admission criteria. If you are applying for the school administration program, you will need to complete only the first two steps.
- Apply for graduate study
- Submit official transcripts
- Send references (download reference form PDF)
- Submit a writing sample (topic depends on program of study)
Questions? Contact:
School of Education and Behavioral Sciences
Email: [email protected]
Phone: 402-375-7389
Affordable Master's in Education
Whether you take online or face-to-face classes, education master’s degrees at Wayne State College are among the lowest priced in the nation.