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Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

18 Colleges
$31,513 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$55,530 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Public Administration & Social Service Graduate Certificate 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 Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This report analyzed 18 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which ones offered the best value graduate certificate 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 Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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

Top 10 Best Public Administration & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools

#1

Aurora University

Aurora, IL

Our 2023 rankings named Aurora University the best value school in the Great Lakes Region for public administration and social service students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Aurora are $14,100 a year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Aurora University Report

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means University of Illinois at Springfield is a great value for public administration and social service students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of Springfield, UIS is a public college with a small student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UIS are $16,757 per year.

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

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Ohio University - Athens Campus. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. OHIO Athens is a very large public school located in the town of Athens.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at OHIO Athens are $17,712 a year.

Read More…

#4

Central Michigan University

Mount Pleasant, MI

The excellent graduate certificate programs at Central Michigan University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value public administration and social service schools in the Great Lakes Region . Located in the distant town of Mount Pleasant, Central Michigan is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Central Michigan graduate students pay an average of $15,644 in tuition and fees each year.

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The excellent graduate certificate programs at Loyola University Chicago helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value public administration and social service schools in the Great Lakes Region . Loyola Chicago is a 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 full report on Public Administration & Social Service at Loyola University Chicago

Indiana University - Northwest came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. IU Northwest is a small public school located in the city of Gary.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at IU Northwest are $18,592 per year.

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

#7

Madonna University

Livonia, MI

Madonna University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Madonna is a small private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Livonia.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Madonna are $16,380 a year.

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

University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public administration and social service students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #8 on the list. UWM is a very large public school located in the large city of Milwaukee.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UWM are $25,651 per year.

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Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public administration and social service students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #9 on the list. IUPUI is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Indianapolis.

IUPUI graduate students pay an average of $26,529 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Indiana University - Purdue University - Indianapolis Report

#10

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

Northwestern University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public administration and social service students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #10 on the list. Northwestern is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Evanston.

Northwestern graduate students pay an average of $56,567 in tuition and fees each year.

Northwestern also made our Best Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, coming in at #1.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Northwestern University Report

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 18 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.

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