2023 Best Value Public Administration Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
Finding the Best Public Administration Master's Degree School for You
Public Administration is the #59 most popular major in the country with 16,905 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.
There are so many programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one for you. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Value Public Administration Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 81 schools in the Southeast Region to see which master's degree programs offered the best value experiences for public admin students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.
This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.
For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.
Top 15% Best Public Administration Master's Degree Schools
Our 2023 rankings named Columbia Southern University the best value school in the Southeast Region for public administration students working on their master’s degree. Located in the town of Orange Beach, Columbia Southern University is a private for-profit college with a large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Columbia Southern University are $4,035 a year.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend American Public University System. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Public Administration Master’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list. Located in the fringe town of Charles Town, American Military University is a private for-profit school with a very large student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at American Military University are $7,050 per year.
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The excellent master’s degree programs at Arkansas State University - Main Campus helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value public administration schools in the Southeast Region . Located in the small city of Jonesboro, A-State is a public school with a large student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at A-State are $11,408 per year.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Clemson University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Public Administration Master’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list. Clemson is a very large public school located in the suburb of Clemson.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Clemson are $23,246 per year.
As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Clemson also is in the top 10% of our Best Public Administration Master’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Liberty University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Public Administration Master’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list. Located in the small city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Liberty University are $8,360 a year.
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With a ranking of #6, Augusta University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for public administration students working on their master’s degree. Augusta University is a medium-sized public school located in the midsize city of Augusta.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Augusta University are $20,712 per year.
Augusta University also claimed a spot on our Best Public Administration Master’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.
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University of North Georgia came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public Administration Master’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. UNG is a large public school located in the town of Dahlonega.
UNG graduate students pay an average of $18,354 in tuition and fees each year.
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University of South Alabama did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public administration students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. Located in the medium-sized city of Mobile, USA is a public school with a large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at USA are $16,652 a year.
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The University of Tennessee - Chattanooga landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree public administration programs. UT Chattanooga is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Chattanooga.
UT Chattanooga graduate students pay an average of $18,538 in tuition and fees each year.
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With a ranking of #10, Kentucky State University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for public administration students working on their master’s degree. Located in the town of Frankfort, KY State is a public school with a small student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at KY State are $12,660 a year.
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Barry University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public administration students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #11 on the list. Barry University is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Miami.
Barry University graduate students pay an average of $17,910 in tuition and fees each year.
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Morehead State University came in at #12 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public Administration Master’s Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. Located in the remote town of Morehead, Morehead State University is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Morehead State University are $10,557 per year.
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These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Value Public Administration Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | Jacksonville State University | Jacksonville, AL |
| 14 | University of Memphis | Memphis, TN |
| 15 | Belhaven University | Jackson, MS |
| 16 | Virginia Tech | Blacksburg, VA |
| 16 | Northern Kentucky University | Highland Heights, KY |
Best Public Administration Colleges by State
Explore the best public administration schools for a specific state in the Southeast region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Georgia | 401 |
| Virginia | 602 |
| North Carolina | 469 |
| Florida | 1,032 |
| Tennessee | 107 |
| Kentucky | 123 |
| South Carolina | 88 |
| Louisiana | 121 |
| Arkansas | 186 |
| Alabama | 396 |
| Mississippi | 84 |
| West Virginia | 132 |
More Public Administration Rankings in the Southeast Region
Majors Related to Public Admin
One of 5 majors within the area of study, public administration has other similar majors worth exploring.
Majors Similar to Public Admin
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Social Work | 58,326 |
| Human Services | 13,238 |
| Public Policy | 6,430 |
| Community Organization & Advocacy | 3,096 |
| Other Public Administration | 588 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.
- 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 The Official CTBTO Photostream.
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More about our data sources and methodologies.
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