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Best Value Public Policy Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

2023 Best Value Public Policy Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

4 Colleges
$29,862 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$57,597 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Public Policy Master's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 536 degrees and certificates were awarded to public policy students who went to a Illinois college or university. This makes it the #60 most popular major in the state.

It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Value Public Policy Master's Degree Schools in Illinois ranking. Our analysis looked at 4 schools in Illinois to see which master's degree programs offered the best value experiences for public policy students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. 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.

In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used in our calculations. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

Best Illinois Schools for Affordable Quality for a Master's in Public Policy

Our analysis found University of Illinois at Chicago to be the best value school for public policy students who want to pursue a master’s degree in Illinois. Located in the city of Chicago, UIC is a public college with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UIC are $17,277 a year.

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The excellent master’s degree programs at Loyola University Chicago helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value public policy schools in Illinois. Loyola Chicago is a large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.

Loyola Chicago graduate students pay an average of $19,894 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#3

DePaul University

Chicago, IL

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend DePaul University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. DePaul is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.

DePaul graduate students pay an average of $18,341 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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#4

University of Chicago

Chicago, IL

Out of the 4 schools in Illinois that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Chicago landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

UChicago graduate students pay an average of $63,936 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, UChicago is ranked #2 for overall quality for public policy in Illinois.

Full Public Policy at University of Chicago Report

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Best Value Public Policy Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Value Public Policy Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 267
Ohio 37
Indiana 8
Wisconsin 29

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

Majors Similar 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 4 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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