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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy (Income $30-$48k) in California

5 Ranked Colleges
206 Degrees Awarded
$14,600 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor's in California For Those Making $30-$48k

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

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 California, there were 722 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $55,286 and $47,721 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 206 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking, we looked at 5 colleges that offer a degree 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.

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.

More Ways to Rank Public Policy Schools

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 in California For Those Making $30-$48k” 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. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k

The colleges and universities below are the best for california bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $30-$48k.

Top 5 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy (Income $30-$48k) in California

#1

Stanford University

Stanford, California
#1 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Stanford University. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k list. Stanford is a fairly large school located in Stanford, California that handed out 20 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

Stanford also made our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #1. The yearly cost to attend Stanford University is $1,145 for california bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $30-$48k.

Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 4 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, 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 0.5%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full Stanford Public Policy Report

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Riverside landed the #2 spot on the list. This large school is located in Riverside, California, and it awarded 83 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

UCR not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The estimated yearly cost for UCR is $9,151 for california bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $30-$48k.

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%.

Read more about Public Policy at UCR

#3

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California
#2 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Southern California. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k. University of Southern California is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Los Angeles, California. It awarded 46 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

USC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. It costs about $16,252 for california bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $30-$48k per year to attend USC.

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. With a freshman retention rate of 91%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The student loan default rate at the school is 1.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Public Policy at University of Southern California

#4

Mills College

Oakland, California
#4 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Mills College. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k list. This small school is located in Oakland, California, and it awarded 8 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

Mills also made our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #4. The estimated yearly cost for Mills is $19,300 for california bachelor’s degree public policy students whose families make $30-$48k.

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. 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%.

Read more about Public Policy at Mills

#5

Mount Saint Mary's University

Los Angeles, California

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k that were part of this year’s ranking, Mount Saint Mary’s University landed the #5 spot on the list. Mount Saint Mary’s University is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Los Angeles, California. It awarded 7 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at MSMU, the school also landed the #5 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend MSMU is $27,376 for California Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students whose families make $30-$48k.

The low student loan default rate of 2.2% 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%. The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.

Full MSMU Public Policy Report

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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