2022 Best Value Public Admin Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Value Public Admin Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia” ranking.

In 2019-2020, 17,269 people earned their degree in public administration, making the major the 47th most popular in the United States.

Across Virginia, there were 515 public administration graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 96 public administration graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Public Admin Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in public administration. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality public administration programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the public administration program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Public Administration Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Public Admin Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Public Admin Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Public Admin Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Administration in Virginia

#1

James Madison University

Harrisonburg, Virginia

#1 in overall quality

$22,169 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend James Madison University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Public Admin Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia. JMU is a large public school situated in Harrisonburg, Virginia. It awarded 59 bachelors’s public admin degrees in 2019-2020.

JMU not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Public Administration Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Virginia” list. The yearly cost to attend JMU is $22,169 for Virginia Bachelor’s Degree Public Admin students.

The low student loan default rate of 2.3% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 89%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read full report on Public Administration at JMU

#2

George Mason University

Fairfax, Virginia

#2 in overall quality

$21,048 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Public Admin Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia that were part of this year’s ranking, George Mason University landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Fairfax, Virginia, this large public school handed out 23 degrees to qualified bachelors’s public admin students in 2019-2020.

GMU also made our “Best Public Administration Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Virginia” list, coming in at #2. It costs about $21,048 for Virginia Bachelor’s Degree Public Admin students per year to attend GMU.

The student loan default rate at the school is 2.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%.

Read more about Public Administration at GMU

#3

Liberty University

Lynchburg, Virginia

#3 in overall quality

$28,903 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Public Admin Schools for a Bachelor’s in Virginia that were part of this year’s ranking, Liberty University landed the #3 spot on the list. Liberty University is a large school located in Lynchburg, Virginia that handed out 7 bachelors’s public admin degrees in 2019-2020.

Liberty University not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Public Administration Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Virginia” list. The yearly cost to attend Liberty University is $28,903 for virginia bachelor’s degree public admin students.

Full Liberty University Public Administration Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Administration in the Southeast Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Administration

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

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