Find Schools

Study Area & Zipcode

Find Schools Near

2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools in Maryland For Those Getting Aid

4 Ranked Colleges
223 Degrees Awarded
$21,700 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Public Policy Schools in Maryland For Those Getting Aid

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. 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 Maryland For Those Getting Aid” ranking is part of that endeavor.

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.

For this year’s “Best Value Public Policy Schools in Maryland For Those Getting Aid” ranking, we looked at 4 colleges that offer a degree 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. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Public Policy Schools

The public policy school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Best Value Public Policy Schools in Maryland For Those Getting Aid”.

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. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Public Policy Schools in Maryland For Those Getting Aid

The colleges and universities below are the best for maryland public policy students with aid.

Top 4 Best Value Colleges for Public Policy in Maryland (With Aid)

#1

University of Maryland - College Park

College Park, Maryland

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools in Maryland For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Maryland - College Park landed the #1 spot on the list. College Park, Maryland is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s public policy degrees to 164 students in 2019-2020.

UMCP also made our “Best Public Policy Schools in Maryland” list, coming in at #2. It costs about $19,045 for maryland public policy students with aid per year to attend UMCP.

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 2.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Public Policy at UMCP

#2

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, Maryland

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Johns Hopkins University. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools in Maryland For Those Getting Aid. This large school is located in Baltimore, Maryland, and it awarded 27 ’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

Johns Hopkins also made our “Best Public Policy Schools in Maryland” list, coming in at #1. The estimated yearly cost for Johns Hopkins is $29,342 for maryland public policy students with aid.

The student loan default rate at the school is 1.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default 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. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 97%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Public Policy at Johns Hopkins

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Maryland - Baltimore County. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Public Policy Schools in Maryland For Those Getting Aid list. UMBC is a fairly large public school situated in Baltimore, Maryland. It awarded 22 ’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our maryland public policy students with aid list, UMBC has also earned the #4 rank in our “Best Public Policy Schools in Maryland” ranking. It costs about $19,082 for maryland public policy students with aid per year to attend UMBC.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 87%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low student loan default rate of 4.3% 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 full report on Public Policy at UMBC

#4

St Mary's College of Maryland

St. Mary's City, Maryland

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools in Maryland For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, St Mary’s College of Maryland landed the #4 spot on the list. SMCM is located in St. Mary’s City, Maryland and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 10 ’s public policy degrees to qualified students.

In addition to being on our maryland public policy students with aid list, SMCM has also earned the #3 rank in our “Best Public Policy Schools in Maryland” ranking. The yearly cost to attend St Mary’s College of Maryland is $19,369 for maryland public policy students with aid.

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. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full SMCM 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.

Credits

Featured Public Administration Schools

Find Schools Near You