2022 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy in the Rocky Mountains Region

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Master’s in the Rocky Mountains Region” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

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 the Rocky Mountains region, there were 51 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 29 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $53,560 and $37,817 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Master’s in the Rocky Mountains Region” ranking, we looked at 2 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. 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 Master’s in the Rocky Mountains Region” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

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. 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 Master’s in the Rocky Mountains Region

The colleges and universities below are the best for rocky mountains region master’s degree public policy students.

Top 2 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy in the Rocky Mountains Region

#1

University of Utah

Salt Lake City, Utah

#2 in overall quality

$24,695 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

$53,358 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Master’s in the Rocky Mountains Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Utah landed the #1 spot on the list. Salt Lake City, Utah is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out masters’s public policy degrees to 15 students in 2019-2020.

U of U also made our “Best Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region” list, coming in at #2. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at University of Utah are $24,695.

Read more about Public Policy at University of Utah

#2

University of Denver

Denver, Colorado

#1 in overall quality

$52,899 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

$62,260 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Public Policy Schools for a Master’s in the Rocky Mountains Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Denver landed the #2 spot on the list. This fairly large school is located in Denver, Colorado, and it awarded 8 masters’s public policy degrees in 2019-2020.

DU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Public Policy Master’s Degree Schools in the Rocky Mountains Region” list. Average graduate tuition and fees at University of Denver are $52,899, but you may pay more or less depending on your major.

Full DU Public Policy Report

• Best Value Master’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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