2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

Public Policy is the 116th most popular major in the country with 6,199 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. 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.

Across Maryland, there were 223 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $49,250 and $28,785 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 78 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $40,371 and $23,982 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking looked at 2 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in public policy. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great public policy programs and cost less that 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 policy program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k.

Top 2 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy (Income $0-$30k) in Maryland

#1

University of Maryland - College Park

College Park, Maryland

#1 in overall quality

$8,054 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Maryland - College Park. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k list. University of Maryland - College Park is a large school located in College Park, Maryland that handed out 68 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

UMCP also took the #1 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Maryland” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for University of Maryland - College Park is $8,054 for Maryland Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $0-$30k.

With a freshman retention rate of 95%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The student loan default rate at the school is 2.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Public Policy at University of Maryland - College Park

#2

St Mary's College of Maryland

St. Mary's City, Maryland

#2 in overall quality

$9,445 Average Net Price

$47,260 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend St Mary’s College of Maryland. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland For Those Making $0-$30k. SMCM is a small public school situated in St. Mary’s City, Maryland. It awarded 10 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

SMCM did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Maryland” list. The yearly cost to attend St Mary’s College of Maryland is $9,445 for maryland 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%.

Full St Mary’s College of Maryland Public Policy Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy (Income $0-$30k) in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy (Income $0-$30k)

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.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to The Official CTBTO Photostream.

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