Find Grad Schools

Study Area & Zipcode

Best Value Public & Social Service Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Find Schools Near

2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

16 Colleges
$33,865 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$69,877 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Public Administration & Social Service Doctor's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 53,252 public administration and social service students received a degree or certificate, making the major the #6 most popular in the country.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Value Public & Social Service Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This report analyzed 16 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which ones offered the best value doctor's degree programs for public administration and social service students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Public Administration & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Public Administration & Social Service Doctor's Degree Colleges.

Top 10 Best Public Administration & Social Service Doctor's Degree Schools

#1

Aurora University

Aurora, IL

Our analysis found Aurora University to be the best value school for public administration and social service students who want to pursue a doctor’s degree in the Great Lakes Region . Located in the suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Aurora are $14,100 per year.

Aurora excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Public & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at Aurora University

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of Illinois at Springfield helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value public administration and social service schools in the Great Lakes Region . Located in the city of Springfield, UIS is a public college with a small student population.

UIS graduate students pay an average of $16,757 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at University of Illinois at Springfield Report

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of Wisconsin - Madison helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value public administration and social service schools in the Great Lakes Region . UW - Madison is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Madison.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UW - Madison are $25,501 a year.

In addition to its great value ranking, UW - Madison is in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Public & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at University of Wisconsin - Madison Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Loyola University Chicago. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Loyola Chicago is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Chicago.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Loyola Chicago are $19,894 per year.

Read More…

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. UIUC is a very large public school located in the small city of Champaign.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UIUC are $30,862 per year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, UIUC also is in the top 10% of our Best Public & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Report

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. UWM is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Milwaukee.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UWM are $25,651 a year.

Read More…

Western Michigan University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the city of Kalamazoo, WMU is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at WMU are $26,248 a year.

Read More…

Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value doctor’s degree public administration and social service programs. IUPUI is a very large public school located in the city of Indianapolis.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at IUPUI are $26,529 a year.

Read More…

University of Illinois at Chicago landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value doctor’s degree public administration and social service programs. Located in the city of Chicago, UIC is a public college with a very large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UIC are $28,468 per year.

Read More…

Indiana University - Bloomington came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Located in the city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at IU Bloomington are $33,352 a year.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at Indiana University - Bloomington

Best Public Administration & Social Service Colleges by State

Explore the best public administration and social service colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.

State Degrees Awarded
Illinois 2,690
Indiana 1,347
Ohio 1,347
Wisconsin 532
Michigan 1,815

Public Administration & Social Service Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Social Work 33,631
Public Administration 13,571
Public Policy 3,737
Human Services 1,277
Community Organization & Advocacy 741
Other Public Administration 295

Related Major Annual Graduates
Legal Professions 45,189
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting 13,045
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies 10,452
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences 1,613

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 16 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 University of the Fraser Valley.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

Featured Schools

Find Graduate Schools Near You

Our free school finder matches students with accredited graduate schools across the U.S.