2023 Best Value Public Policy Schools in California For Those Making $75-$110k
8
Ranked Colleges
798
Degrees Awarded
$25,600
Avg Net Price*
Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Public Policy Schools in California For Those Making $75-$110k” ranking is part of that endeavor.
Public Policy is the 113th most popular major in the country with 6,430 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, public policy graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $49,451 and had an average of $21,866 in loans still to pay off.
Across California, there were 798 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $52,313 and $22,744 respectively.
This year’s “Best Value Public Policy Schools in California For Those Making $75-$110k” ranking looked at 8 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in public policy. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality public policy programs that also have a lower cost than 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.
One Size Does Not Fit All
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 in California For Those Making $75-$110k” list to help you make the college 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 by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.
Best Value Public Policy Schools in California For Those Making $75-$110k
The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Public Policy Schools in California For Those Making $75-$110k.
Top 8 Best Value Colleges for Public Policy (Income $75-$110k) in California
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Berkeley. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Best Value Public Policy Schools in California For Those Making $75-$110k list. UC Berkeley is located in Berkeley, California and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 114 ’s public policy degrees to qualified students.
UC Berkeley not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” list. The estimated yearly cost for UC Berkeley is $21,601 for california public policy students whose families make $75-$110k.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
Full UC Berkeley Public Policy Report
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Los Angeles. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Public Policy Schools in California For Those Making $75-$110k list. University of California - Los Angeles is a large school located in Los Angeles, California that handed out 131 ’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
UCLA also took the #3 spot in our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of California - Los Angeles is $20,697 for California Public Policy students whose families make $75-$110k.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.6%, 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 96%.
Full University of California - Los Angeles Public Policy Report
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of California - Riverside. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools in California For Those Making $75-$110k. Riverside, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s public policy degrees to 109 students in 2020-2021.
UCR also made our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” list, coming in at #5. It costs about $16,887 for California Public Policy students whose families make $75-$110k per year to attend University of California - Riverside.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 91%. The low undergrad 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%.
Full UCR Public Policy Report
Out of the 8 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools in California For Those Making $75-$110k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Irvine landed the #4 spot on the list. Located in Irvine, California, this large public school handed out 14 diplomas to qualified ’s public policy students in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our california public policy students whose families make $75-$110k list, UC Irvine has also earned the #6 rank in our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend UC Irvine is $20,567 for California Public Policy students whose families make $75-$110k.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.4% 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%.
Full UC Irvine Public Policy Report
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Southern California. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Public Policy Schools in California For Those Making $75-$110k list. Located in Los Angeles, California, this large private not-for-profit school handed out 199 degrees to qualified ’s public policy students in 2020-2021.
USC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” list. It costs about $32,363 for california public policy students whose families make $75-$110k per year to attend USC.
With a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 91%. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Read more about Public Policy at USC
California Lutheran University landed the #6 spot on the 2023 Best Value Public Policy Schools in California For Those Making $75-$110k ranking. Located in Thousand Oaks, California, this small private not-for-profit school handed out 30 degrees to qualified ’s public policy students in 2020-2021.
CLU also made our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” list, coming in at #9. It costs about $29,177 for california public policy students whose families make $75-$110k per year to attend California Lutheran University.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.7% 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 CLU
With a ranking of #7, Mills College did quite well on the 2023 Best Value Public Policy Schools in California For Those Making $75-$110k list. Mills College is a private not-for-profit institution located in Oakland, California. The school has a small population, and it awarded 31 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Mills also took the #7 spot in our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Mills is $28,433 for California Public Policy students whose families make $75-$110k.
The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 3.5% 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 full report on Public Policy at Mills College
With a ranking of #8, Pepperdine University did quite well on the 2023 Best Value Public Policy Schools in California For Those Making $75-$110k list. Pepperdine University is located in Malibu, California and, has a fairly large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 31 ’s public policy degrees to qualified students.
Pepperdine also made our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” list, coming in at #10. The estimated yearly cost for Pepperdine University is $35,375 for California Public Policy students whose families make $75-$110k.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.8% 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 85%.
Read more about Public Policy at Pepperdine 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
- *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
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