2024 Best Value Public Policy Schools in California
9
Ranked Colleges
798
Degrees Awarded
$22,800
Avg Net Price*
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 in California” 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” ranking analyzed 9 colleges that offered 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.
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. See our ranking methodology to learn more.
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 in California” 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. 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 in California
The colleges and universities below are the best for california public policy students.
Top 9 Best Value Colleges for Public Policy in California
Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Berkeley landed the #1 spot on the list. University of California - Berkeley is a large school located in Berkeley, California that handed out 114 ’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our california public policy students list, UC Berkeley has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $16,032 for California Public Policy students per year to attend University of California - Berkeley.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.8%, 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 96%.
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 2024 Best Value Public Policy Schools in California list. Los Angeles, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s public policy degrees to 131 students in 2020-2021.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at UCLA, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for UCLA is $15,023 for California Public Policy students.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.6%, 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 97%.
Full UCLA Public Policy Report
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Riverside. It ranked #3 on our 2024 Best Value Public Policy Schools in California list. University of California - Riverside is a large school located in Riverside, California that handed out 109 ’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
UCR also took the #5 spot in our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of California - Riverside is $11,822 for california public policy students.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 88%. 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 University of California - Riverside Public Policy Report
Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools in California 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 awarded 14 diplomas to qualified ’s public policy students in 2020-2021.
UC Irvine did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #6 on our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” list. It costs about $12,209 for california public policy students per year to attend UC Irvine.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 93%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read full report on Public Policy at University of California - Irvine
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Loma Linda University. It ranked #5 on our 2024 Best Value Public Policy Schools in California list. Loma Linda University is a small school located in Loma Linda, California that handed out 2 ’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
Loma Linda University not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #4 on our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” list.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 3 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors.
Full Loma Linda University Public Policy Report
Mills College landed the #6 spot on the 2024 Best Value Public Policy Schools in California ranking. Mills College is a small school located in Oakland, California that handed out 31 ’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at Mills, the school also landed the #7 spot in our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Mills is $24,949 for california public policy students.
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%. Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors.
Read more about Public Policy at Mills
Pepperdine University landed the #7 spot on the 2024 Best Value Public Policy Schools in California ranking. Pepperdine is a fairly large school located in Malibu, California that handed out 31 ’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at Pepperdine, the school also landed the #9 spot in our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Pepperdine University is $38,846 for California Public Policy students.
With a freshman retention rate of 93%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Read more about Public Policy at Pepperdine University
Mount Saint Mary’s University ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Public Policy Schools in California list. MSMU is located in Los Angeles, California and, has a small student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 2 ’s public policy degrees to qualified students.
In addition to being on our california public policy students list, MSMU has also earned the #8 rank in our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Mount Saint Mary’s University is $30,938 for California Public Policy students.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read full report on Public Policy at MSMU
University of Southern California ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Public Policy Schools in California list. University of Southern California is a large school located in Los Angeles, California that handed out 199 ’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
USC not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Public Policy Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend USC is $32,569 for California Public Policy students.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%.
Read more about Public Policy at USC
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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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