4+1 Accelerated Master’s in Special Education – Graduate Studies
B.S. Degree with a major in Special Education
4+1 Accelerated Master’s in Special Education
UMF students in the B.S. or minor in Special Education can accelerate their studies through a 4+1 pathway, earning an M.S.Ed. in five years instead of six.
This unique program, available only to undergraduate UMF students, allows Farmington students pursuing a bachelor’s in Special Education or a 20-credit minor in Special Education to complete up to 12 credits of graduate coursework toward a UMF M.S.Ed. in Special Education before completing their bachelor’s degree.
4+1 students taking graduate courses will pay UMF’s lower undergraduate rate for the graduate credits — and those graduate credits count toward earning both the bachelor’s and master’s degrees, saving in-state UMF students as much as $5,000 in tuition.
UMF is rated by University Headquarters as having some of the Best Master’s Degrees in Maine (#2 overall). University Headquarters is an industry-leading, independent educational organization that compiles a comprehensive set of information for students who wish to pursue a higher education.
UMF’s Early Childhood Education is ranked in the Top 5 Best Master’s Programs in Maine 2024

As a result of their own work with students with disabilities, all my Special Education professors bring a great deal of real-world experience to the classroom at UMF. For each lesson, they present us with multiple examples of how we’ll use methods learned in class in our future work with students. This helps us understand the potential situations we might face during student-teaching or when we graduate and begin teaching in our own classrooms.