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Best Value Public Administration Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia

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2023 Best Value Public Administration Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

6 Colleges
$15,196 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$64,120 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Public Administration Graduate Certificate School for You

Public Administration is the #20 most popular major in Virginia with 489 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

There are so many programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one for you. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

The Best Value Public Administration Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia ranking is one of many tools that Grad Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 6 schools in Virginia to see which graduate certificate programs offered the best value experiences for public admin students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.

For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value Public Administration Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Public Administration Graduate Certificate Colleges.

Best Virginia Schools for Affordable Quality for a Postbaccalaureate Certificates in Public Administration

#1

Liberty University

Lynchburg, VA

Our 2023 rankings named Liberty University the best value school in Virginia for public administration students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the small city of Lynchburg, Liberty University is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Liberty University graduate students pay an average of $8,360 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

#2

Virginia Tech

Blacksburg, VA

The excellent graduate certificate programs at Virginia Tech helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value public administration schools in Virginia. Located in the small city of Blacksburg, Virginia Tech is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Virginia Tech are $16,522 a year.

Virginia Tech also took the #2 spot in our Best Public Administration Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia rankings.

Read full report on Public Administration at Virginia Tech

The excellent graduate certificate programs at University of Virginia - Main Campus helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value public administration schools in Virginia. Located in the suburb of Charlottesville, University of Virginia is a public school with a fairly large student population.

University of Virginia graduate students pay an average of $20,906 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

University of Virginia also made our Best Public Administration Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia list, coming in at #1.

Read More…

#4

George Mason University

Fairfax, VA

The excellent graduate certificate programs at George Mason University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value public administration schools in Virginia. Located in the large suburb of Fairfax, GMU is a public college with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at GMU are $16,644 per year.

GMU also took the #3 spot in our Best Public Administration Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia rankings.

Read full report on Public Administration at George Mason University

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Virginia Commonwealth University is a great value for public administration students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the medium-sized city of Richmond, VCU is a public school with a very large student population.

VCU graduate students pay an average of $15,518 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Public Administration at Virginia Commonwealth University

#6

Old Dominion University

Norfolk, VA

Old Dominion University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Public Administration Graduate Certificate Schools in Virginia list. Located in the midsize city of Norfolk, Old Dominion is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Old Dominion are $13,224 a year.

Read full report on Public Administration at Old Dominion University

Best Value Public Administration Colleges in the Southeast Region

Explore all the Best Value Public Administration Colleges in the Southeast Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Florida 638
Georgia 401
North Carolina 379
Tennessee 97
Kentucky 122
Louisiana 113
Alabama 378
South Carolina 88
Mississippi 84
Arkansas 172
West Virginia 132

One of 5 majors within the area of study, public administration has other similar majors worth exploring.

Majors Similar to Public Admin

Related Major Annual Graduates
Social Work 33,631
Public Policy 3,737
Human Services 1,277
Community Organization & Advocacy 741
Other Public Administration 295

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 6 schools only.

  • 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 the rest 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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to The Official CTBTO Photostream.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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