2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region
13
Ranked Colleges
487
Degrees Awarded
$56,498
Avg Salary
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 “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region” ranking is part of that endeavor.
In 2020-2021, 6,430 people earned their degree in public policy, making the major the 113th most popular in the United States. 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 the Great Lakes region, there were 946 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $49,270 and $20,394 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 487 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $58,892 and $0 respectively.
This year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region” ranking looked at 13 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in public policy. The colleges and universities that top this list are recognized because their public policy program is one of the largest majors offered at the school.
See our ranking methodology to learn more.
One Size Does Not Fit All
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.
Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region
The colleges and universities below are the best for great lakes region master’s degree public policy students.
Top 13 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy in the Great Lakes Region
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Chicago. The school came in at #1 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region. This fairly large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 259 masters’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 100%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
Full UChicago Public Policy Report
Out of the 13 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Adler University landed the #2 spot on the list. This small school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 15 masters’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
The low undergrad 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%. The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.
Read full report on Public Policy at Adler University
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. The school came in at #3 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is a large school located in Ann Arbor, Michigan that handed out 122 masters’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. 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%.
Read more about Public Policy at U-M
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Xavier University. The school came in at #4 for the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region. Xavier University is a medium-sized school located in Cincinnati, Ohio that handed out 11 masters’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 85%.
Read full report on Public Policy at Xavier University
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend DePaul University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region list. This large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 20 masters’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read more about Public Policy at DePaul
With a ranking of #6, Michigan Technological University did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region list. Michigan Tech is a medium-sized public school situated in Houghton, Michigan. It awarded 5 masters’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
Read full report on Public Policy at Michigan Technological University
University of Wisconsin - Madison came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This large school is located in Madison, Wisconsin, and it awarded 29 masters’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 95%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.
Full University of Wisconsin - Madison Public Policy Report
Loyola University Chicago came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This fairly large school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 8 masters’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 85%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 2.7% 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 Loyola Chicago
Michigan State University did quite well in the 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region ranking, coming in at #9. East Lansing, Michigan is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out masters’s public policy degrees to 17 students in 2020-2021.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 91%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read full report on Public Policy at Michigan State
With a ranking of #10, University of Illinois at Chicago did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region list. University of Illinois at Chicago is a large public school situated in Chicago, Illinois. It awarded 1 masters’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Read full report on Public Policy at UIC
University of Michigan - Dearborn landed the #11 spot on the 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in Dearborn, Michigan, this medium-sized public school handed out 0 diplomas to qualified masters’s public policy students in 2020-2021.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read full report on Public Policy at University of Michigan - Dearborn
National Louis University came in at #11 in this year’s edition of the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This medium-sized school is located in Chicago, Illinois, and it awarded 0 masters’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
Read full report on Public Policy at NLU
With a ranking of #11, Northwestern University did quite well on the 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in the Great Lakes Region list. Northwestern University is located in Evanston, Illinois and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 45 masters’s public policy degrees to qualified students.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.6% 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%. With a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 6 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 97%.
Full Northwestern University Public Policy Report
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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
- *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate 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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