2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k
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 Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking.
In 2019-2020, 6,199 people earned their degree in public policy, making the major the 116th most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, public policy graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $52,077 and had an average of $35,743 in loans still to pay off.
At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 2,524 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,303 and $24,501 respectively.
This year’s “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking looked at 51 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in public policy. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent public policy programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.
Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the public policy program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.
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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 Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k” list to help you make the college decision.
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Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k
The colleges and universities below are the best for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k.
Top 25 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy (Income $0-$30k)
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Duke University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k. Duke is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Durham, North Carolina. It awarded 233 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
Duke not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. It costs about $-7,808 for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Duke. The negative number means the student will receive more financial aid on average than it costs to attend the school.
The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. With a freshman retention rate of 97%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 0.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Out of the 51 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Chicago landed the #2 spot on the list. Chicago, Illinois is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s public policy degrees to 129 students in 2019-2020.
UChicago also made our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list, coming in at #3. It costs about $2,712 for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend UChicago.
The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. The student loan default rate at the school is 0.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 100%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Princeton University. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k. Located in Princeton, New Jersey, this medium-sized private not-for-profit school awarded 108 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s public policy students in 2019-2020.
In addition to being on our bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k list, Princeton has also earned the #4 rank in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. It costs about $1,386 for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Princeton University.
The student loan default rate at the school is 0.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The student-to-faculty ratio of 4 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Pennsylvania. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k list. UPenn is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It awarded 23 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
UPenn also took the #7 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. It costs about $3,181 for Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend UPenn.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 95%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Cornell University. It ranked #5 on our 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k list. Cornell University is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Ithaca, New York. It awarded 58 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
In addition to being on our bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k list, Cornell has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. It costs about $7,484 for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Cornell University.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Stanford University did quite well in the 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k ranking, coming in at #6. This fairly large school is located in Stanford, California, and it awarded 20 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at Stanford, the school also landed the #5 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Stanford University is $-1,387 for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k. When an average net price is negative, it usually means that the student will receive more financial aid than it costs to attend the school.
The student loan default rate at the school is 0.5%, 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 students. The student-to-faculty ratio of 4 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.
Northwestern University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k list. Northwestern is a large school located in Evanston, Illinois that handed out 66 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
Northwestern not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #10 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. The estimated yearly cost for Northwestern University is $1,866 for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k.
Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 97%. The student loan default rate at the school is 0.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Brown University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k ranking. Brown University is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school situated in Providence, Rhode Island. It awarded 60 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
Brown also took the #6 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Brown is $201 for Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $0-$30k.
The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. With a freshman retention rate of 92%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
With a ranking of #9, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k list. Located in Ann Arbor, Michigan, this large public school awarded 77 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s public policy students in 2019-2020.
U-M also made our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list, coming in at #12. The estimated yearly cost for U-M is $3,166 for Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $0-$30k.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low student loan default rate of 1.2% 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 ranking of #10, Vanderbilt University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k list. This fairly large school is located in Nashville, Tennessee, and it awarded 37 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at Vanderbilt, the school also landed the #13 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. It costs about $3,156 for Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Vanderbilt University.
The student loan default rate at the school is 1.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. With a freshman retention rate of 96%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill did quite well in the 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k ranking, coming in at #11. This large school is located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and it awarded 168 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
UNC Chapel Hill did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #16 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. The estimated yearly cost for UNC Chapel Hill is $4,026 for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 95%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student loan default rate at the school is 1.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
University of Maryland - College Park did quite well in the 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k ranking, coming in at #12. University of Maryland - College Park is a public institution located in College Park, Maryland. The school has a large population, and it awarded 68 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.
UMCP did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #15 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. The estimated yearly cost for UMCP is $8,054 for Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $0-$30k.
The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 95%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
William & Mary landed the #13 spot on the 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k ranking. This medium-sized school is located in Williamsburg, Virginia, and it awarded 54 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
William & Mary also took the #17 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for William & Mary is $4,711 for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k.
The low student loan default rate of 1.0% 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%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
With a ranking of #14, Trinity College did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k list. Trinity College is located in Hartford, Connecticut and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 32 bachelors’s public policy degrees to qualified students.
Trinity Bantams not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #14 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. It costs about $6,256 for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Trinity Bantams.
The low student loan default rate of 2.6% 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 90%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.
With a ranking of #15, St Mary’s College of Maryland did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k list. St. Mary’s City, Maryland is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s public policy degrees to 10 students in 2019-2020.
The yearly cost to attend St Mary’s College of Maryland is $9,445 for Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $0-$30k.
With a student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. The low student loan default rate of 3.4% 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%.
Read more about Public Policy at St Mary’s College of Maryland
Ohio State University - Main Campus ranked #16 on this year’s Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k list. Ohio State University - Main Campus is a public institution located in Columbus, Ohio. The school has a large population, and it awarded 29 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.
The yearly cost to attend Ohio State University - Main Campus is $8,194 for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k.
The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 4.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
With a ranking of #17, Michigan State University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k list. Michigan State University is a large school located in East Lansing, Michigan that handed out 27 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
It costs about $6,686 for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Michigan State University.
The student loan default rate at the school is 3.6%, 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 91%.
University of Virginia - Main Campus landed the #18 spot on the 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k ranking. University of Virginia - Main Campus is located in Charlottesville, Virginia and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 82 bachelors’s public policy degrees to qualified students.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at University of Virginia, the school also landed the #9 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for University of Virginia is $8,882 for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 97%. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Full University of Virginia - Main Campus Public Policy Report
With a ranking of #19, University of California - Riverside did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k list. UCR is a large public school situated in Riverside, California. It awarded 83 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
It costs about $8,366 for Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend UCR.
The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 91%.
Full University of California - Riverside Public Policy Report
Dickinson College came in at #20 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k ranking. Dickinson College is a small school located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania that handed out 18 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
Dickinson did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #18 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. It costs about $11,046 for Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Dickinson College.
With a student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.
Virginia Tech did quite well in the 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k ranking, coming in at #21. Virginia Tech is a large public school situated in Blacksburg, Virginia. It awarded 28 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
Virginia Tech also took the #19 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” ranking. It costs about $11,138 for Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Virginia Tech.
The low student loan default rate of 1.6% 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 93%.
University of Mississippi came in at #22 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k ranking. This large school is located in University, Mississippi, and it awarded 56 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
The estimated yearly cost for Ole Miss is $9,455 for Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $0-$30k.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%.
With a ranking of #23, Carnegie Mellon University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k list. Carnegie Mellon is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It awarded 14 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.
Carnegie Mellon did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #8 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools” list. It costs about $12,542 for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Carnegie Mellon.
The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student loan default rate at the school is 0.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
University of Illinois at Chicago came in at #24 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k ranking. Chicago, Illinois is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s public policy degrees to 25 students in 2019-2020.
The yearly cost to attend University of Illinois at Chicago is $10,648 for Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $0-$30k.
The low student loan default rate of 3.4% 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 ranking of #25, Washington State University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s For Those Making $0-$30k list. Located in Pullman, Washington, this large public school awarded 20 degrees to qualified bachelors’s public policy students in 2019-2020.
It costs about $9,334 for bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend Washington State University.
The student loan default rate at the school is 4.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Read full report on Public Policy at Washington State University
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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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- Credit for the banner image above goes to The Official CTBTO Photostream.
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