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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy in California

5 Ranked Colleges
206 Degrees Awarded
$21,100 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor's in California

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. 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 California” ranking.

In 2019-2020, 6,199 people earned their degree in public policy, making the major the 116th most popular in the United States. 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” ranking, we looked at 5 colleges that offer a degree in public policy. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality public policy programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the public policy program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

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 for a Bachelor’s in California” 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. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

The colleges and universities below are the best for california bachelor’s degree public policy students.

Top 5 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy in California

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Riverside landed the #1 spot on the list. UCR is a large school located in Riverside, California that handed out 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 yearly cost to attend UCR is $12,871 for california bachelor’s degree public policy students.

With a freshman retention rate of 91%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. 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%.

Read more about Public Policy at UCR

#2

Mills College

Oakland, California
#4 in overall quality

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Mills College landed the #2 spot on the list. Oakland, California is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s public policy degrees to 8 students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Mills, the school also landed the #4 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Mills is $22,202 for California Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students.

Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. The student loan default rate at the school is 2.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Public Policy at Mills College

#3

Mount Saint Mary's University

Los Angeles, California

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Mount Saint Mary’s University. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. Mount Saint Mary’s University is located in Los Angeles, California and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 7 bachelors’s public policy degrees to qualified students.

MSMU also took the #5 spot in our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for MSMU is $29,214 for California Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students.

With a student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. The low student loan default rate of 2.2% 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%.

Read more about Public Policy at Mount Saint Mary’s University

#4

Stanford University

Stanford, California
#1 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Stanford University. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. Stanford, California is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s public policy degrees to 20 students in 2019-2020.

Stanford not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. It costs about $11,496 for california bachelor’s degree public policy students per year to attend Stanford University.

With a freshman retention rate of 86%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The student loan default rate at the school is 0.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 4 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.

Full Stanford Public Policy Report

#5

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 #5 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. This large school is located in Los Angeles, California, and it awarded 46 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

USC also made our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #2. The yearly cost to attend USC is $29,528 for California Bachelor’s Degree Public Policy students.

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. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 91%. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.2%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Public Policy at University of Southern California

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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

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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