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Best Value Public Policy Master's Degree Schools

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2023 Best Value Public Policy Master's Degree Schools

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

73 Colleges
$24,628 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$57,597 Avg Salary

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.

2023 Best Value Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools in the United States

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Public Policy Master's Degree Colleges.

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.

In addition to its great value ranking, BYU is in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools list.

Full Public Policy at Brigham Young University - Provo Report

Out of the 73 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, American Public University System landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the town of Charles Town, American Military University is a private for-profit college with a very large student population.

American Military University graduate students pay an average of $7,050 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Public Policy at American Public University System Report

The excellent master’s degree programs at Arizona State University - Skysong helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value public policy schools in the United States. ASU - Skysong is a very large public school located in the medium-sized 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

#4

Trinity College

Hartford, CT

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.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Trinity Bantams are $18,880 a year.

Read full report on Public Policy at Trinity College

Out of the 73 schools in the United States that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Berkeley landed the # 5 spot on the list. UC Berkeley is a very large public school located in the midsize city of Berkeley.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UC Berkeley are $29,262 a 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.

Read More…

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 fairly large public school located in the large city of Austin.

UT Austin graduate students pay an average of $22,944 in tuition and fees each 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.

Full Public Policy at The University of Texas at Austin Report

#7

Liberty University

Lynchburg, VA

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 city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit school with a very large student population.

Liberty University graduate students pay an average of $8,360 in tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

#8

Elizabethtown College

Elizabethtown, PA

With a ranking of #8, Elizabethtown College did quite well on this year’s best value schools for public policy students working on their master’s degree. Etown is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Elizabethtown.

Etown graduate students pay an average of $34,000 in tuition and fees each year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Etown also is in the top 5% of our Best Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools ranking.

Read More…

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.

UD also claimed a spot on our Best Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.

Full Public Policy at University of Delaware Report

#10

California Lutheran University

Thousand Oaks, CA

California Lutheran University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree public policy programs. Located in the medium-sized 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.

CLU 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.

Read full report on Public Policy at California Lutheran University

Honorable Mentions

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

Public Policy is one of 5 different types of programs to choose from.

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.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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