2023 Best Value Public Policy Master's Degree Schools
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
Finding the Best Public Policy Master's Degree School for You
In 2020-2021, 6,430 people earned a degree or certificate in public policy, making the major the #113 most popular in the United States.
Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.
The Best Value Public Policy Master's Degree Schools ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 73 schools in the United States to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for public policy students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.
When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. 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.
Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.
Top 10 Best Public Policy Master's Degree Schools
Our 2023 rankings named Brigham Young University - Provo the best value school in the United States for public policy students working on their master’s degree. BYU is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Provo.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at BYU are $7,700 a year.
BYU excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools list.
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend American Public University System. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the town of Charles Town, American Military University is a private for-profit school with a fairly large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at American Military University are $7,050 a year.
Full Public Policy at American Public University System Report
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Out of the 73 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, Arizona State University - Skysong landed the # 3 spot on the list. ASU - Skysong is a very large public school located in the city of Scottsdale.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at ASU - Skysong are $9,982 a year.
Full Public Policy at Arizona State University - Skysong Report
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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Trinity College. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of Hartford, Trinity Bantams is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Trinity Bantams graduate students pay an average of $18,880 in tuition and fees each year.
Full Public Policy at Trinity College Report
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The excellent master’s degree programs at University of California - Berkeley helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value public policy schools in the United States. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UC Berkeley are $29,262 per year.
In addition to its great value ranking, UC Berkeley is in the top 5% of all schools on our Best Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools list.
Full Public Policy at University of California - Berkeley Report
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The University of Texas at Austin came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools ranking. UT Austin is a very large public school located in the city of Austin.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UT Austin are $22,944 per year.
On top of its placing in our value ranking, UT Austin also did well on our Best Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools list. It’s in the top 5% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
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Liberty University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public policy students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. Located in the small city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.
Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Liberty University are $8,360 per year.
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Elizabethtown College landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree public policy programs. Etown is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Elizabethtown.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Etown are $34,000 a year.
On top of its placing in our value ranking, Etown also did well on our Best Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools list. It’s in the top 5% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
Full Public Policy at Elizabethtown College Report
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University of Delaware ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools list. UD is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Newark.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UD are $18,128 a year.
As a testament to the quality of education it offers, UD also is in the top 10% of our Best Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools ranking.
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California Lutheran University ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools list. Located in the city of Thousand Oaks, CLU is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.
The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at CLU are $20,600 a year.
As a testament to the quality of education it offers, CLU also is in the top 20% of our Best Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools ranking.
Read full report on Public Policy at California Lutheran University
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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 Policy Master's Degree Schools award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | University of Houston | Houston, TX |
| 12 | University of California - Los Angeles | Los Angeles, CA |
| 13 | University of Northern Iowa | Cedar Falls, IA |
| 14 | University of Maryland - Baltimore County | Baltimore, MD |
Public Policy by Region
View the Best Value Public Policy Master's Degree Schools for a specific region near you.
| Region |
|---|
| Southeast |
| New England |
| Rocky Mountains |
| Plains States |
| Middle Atlantic |
| Far Western US |
| Southwest |
| Great Lakes |
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Public Policy Related Majors for Public Policy
Public Policy is one of 5 different types of programs to choose from.
Most Popular Majors Related to Public Policy
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Social Work | 58,326 |
| Public Administration | 16,905 |
| Human Services | 13,238 |
| 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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