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

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. 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 for a Bachelor’s in Maryland” ranking is part of that endeavor.

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 Maryland, there were 223 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $49,250 and $28,785 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 78 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $40,371 and $23,982 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland” ranking analyzed 2 colleges that offered 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

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

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

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

Top 2 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy in Maryland

#1

University of Maryland - College Park

College Park, Maryland

#1 in overall quality

$19,045 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Maryland - College Park. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland. UMCP is a large public school situated in College Park, Maryland. It awarded 68 bachelors’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

UMCP also made our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Maryland” list, coming in at #1. The estimated yearly cost for UMCP is $19,045 for maryland bachelor’s degree public policy students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 95%. The low student loan default rate of 2.4% 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%.

Full UMCP Public Policy Report

#2

St Mary's College of Maryland

St. Mary's City, Maryland

#2 in overall quality

$19,369 Average Net Price

$47,260 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Bachelor’s in Maryland that were part of this year’s ranking, St Mary’s College of Maryland landed the #2 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 bachelors’s public policy degrees to qualified students.

SMCM did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Public Policy Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Maryland” list. It costs about $19,369 for maryland bachelor’s degree public policy students per year to attend St Mary’s College of Maryland.

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%. Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors.

Read more about Public Policy at SMCM

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy in the Middle Atlantic Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy

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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