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2024 Best Value Public Admin Schools in Kentucky

7 Ranked Colleges
123 Degrees Awarded
$12,800 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Public Admin Schools in Kentucky

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Public Admin Schools in Kentucky” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

In 2020-2021, 16,905 people earned their degree in public administration, making the major the 60th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, public administration graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $51,352 and had an average of $29,054 in loans still to pay off.

Across Kentucky, there were 123 public administration graduates with average earnings and debt of $43,815 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Public Admin Schools in Kentucky” ranking looked at 7 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. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

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When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Best Value Public Admin Schools in Kentucky” list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Public Admin Schools in Kentucky

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Public Admin Schools in Kentucky.

Top 7 Best Value Colleges for Public Administration in Kentucky

1
UK crest
University of Kentucky
Lexington, Kentucky

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Kentucky. It ranked #1 on our 2024 Best Value Public Admin Schools in Kentucky list. UK is a large school located in Lexington, Kentucky that handed out 40 ’s public admin degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UK, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Public Administration Schools in Kentucky” ranking. It costs about $18,203 for kentucky public admin students per year to attend UK.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 4.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 86%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Full University of Kentucky Public Administration Report

2
WKU crest
Western Kentucky University
Bowling Green, Kentucky

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Western Kentucky University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Public Admin Schools in Kentucky. This fairly large school is located in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and it awarded 12 ’s public admin degrees in 2020-2021.

WKU also took the #2 spot in our “Best Public Administration Schools in Kentucky” ranking. It costs about $12,522 for kentucky public admin students per year to attend Western Kentucky University.

Full Western Kentucky University Public Administration Report

3
KY State crest
Kentucky State University
Frankfort, Kentucky

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Kentucky State University. It ranked #3 on our 2024 Best Value Public Admin Schools in Kentucky list. KY State is a small public school situated in Frankfort, Kentucky. It awarded 5 ’s public admin degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at KY State, the school also landed the #7 spot in our “Best Public Administration Schools in Kentucky” ranking. It costs about $7,343 for kentucky public admin students per year to attend KY State.

Read full report on Public Administration at Kentucky State University

4
NKU crest
Northern Kentucky University
Highland Heights, Kentucky

Out of the 7 schools in the Best Value Public Admin Schools in Kentucky that were part of this year’s ranking, Northern Kentucky University landed the #4 spot on the list. NKU is a fairly large school located in Highland Heights, Kentucky that handed out 24 ’s public admin degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our kentucky public admin students list, NKU has also earned the #4 rank in our “Best Public Administration Schools in Kentucky” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Northern Kentucky University is $9,183 for Kentucky Public Admin students.

Full Northern Kentucky University Public Administration Report

5
UofL crest
University of Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Louisville. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Public Admin Schools in Kentucky. Louisville, Kentucky is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s public admin degrees to 5 students in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UofL, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Public Administration Schools in Kentucky” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for University of Louisville is $16,828 for kentucky public admin students.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 4.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Public Administration at UofL

6
Murray State crest
Murray State University
Murray, Kentucky

Murray State University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public Admin Schools in Kentucky ranking. This medium-sized school is located in Murray, Kentucky, and it awarded 13 ’s public admin degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Murray State, the school also landed the #5 spot in our “Best Public Administration Schools in Kentucky” ranking. It costs about $11,736 for kentucky public admin students per year to attend Murray State.

Read full report on Public Administration at Murray State University

7
Eastern crest
Eastern Kentucky University
Richmond, Kentucky

Eastern Kentucky University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public Admin Schools in Kentucky ranking. This fairly large school is located in Richmond, Kentucky, and it awarded 22 ’s public admin degrees in 2020-2021.

Eastern did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #6 on our “Best Public Administration Schools in Kentucky” list. The estimated yearly cost for Eastern Kentucky University is $13,763 for kentucky public admin students.

Read full report on Public Administration at Eastern Kentucky University

Notes and References

References

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

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