2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southwest Region For Those Getting Aid

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. 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 in the Southwest Region For Those Getting Aid” ranking.

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 the Southwest region, there were 536 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $40,050 and $23,421 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 285 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $38,896 and $23,899 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southwest Region For Those Getting Aid” ranking looked at 2 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.

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. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

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 the Southwest Region For Those Getting Aid” 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. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southwest Region For Those Getting Aid

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southwest Region For Those Getting Aid.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy in the Southwest Region (With Aid)

#1

The University of Texas at Dallas

Richardson, Texas

#2 in overall quality

$15,232 Average Net Price

$35,060 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend The University of Texas at Dallas. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southwest Region For Those Getting Aid list. UT Dallas is a public institution located in Richardson, Texas. The school has a large population, and it awarded 25 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UT Dallas, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southwest Region” ranking. It costs about $15,232 for southwest region bachelor’s degree public policy students with aid per year to attend The University of Texas at Dallas.

The student loan default rate at the school is 4.9%, 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 90%.

Read full report on Public Policy at The University of Texas at Dallas

#2

Southern Methodist University

Dallas, Texas

#1 in overall quality

$36,222 Average Net Price

$38,289 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Southern Methodist University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southwest Region For Those Getting Aid. Located in Dallas, Texas, this fairly large private not-for-profit school awarded 41 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s public policy students in 2019-2020.

SMU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southwest Region” list. The estimated yearly cost for SMU is $36,222 for Southwest Region Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students with aid.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 90%, 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 4.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Public Policy at Southern Methodist University

#2

Arizona State University - Skysong

Scottsdale, Arizona

#3 in overall quality

$13,971 Average Net Price

$37,110 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Arizona State University - Skysong. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in the Southwest Region For Those Getting Aid. ASU - Skysong is a large public school situated in Scottsdale, Arizona. It awarded 84 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

ASU - Skysong also made our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in the Southwest Region” list, coming in at #3. The yearly cost to attend Arizona State University - Skysong is $13,971 for southwest region bachelor’s degree public policy students with aid.

Full Arizona State University - Skysong Public Policy Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy (With Aid)

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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