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Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

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2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

24 Colleges
$29,694 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.

There are so many programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one for you. 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 help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Grad Degree Search has developed this Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 24 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to see which graduate certificate programs offered the best value experiences for public administration and social service 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 & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

Check out the public administration and social service graduate certificate programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Public Administration & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Fairleigh Dickinson University - Metropolitan Campus the best value school in the Middle Atlantic Region for public administration and social service students working on their graduate certificate. FDU is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Teaneck.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at FDU are $10,722 per year.

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#2

Montclair State University

Montclair, NJ

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means Montclair State University is a great value for public administration and social service students working on their graduate certificate. Montclair State is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Montclair.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Montclair State are $13,519 a year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Montclair State University Report

#3

Villanova University

Villanova, PA

The excellent graduate certificate programs at Villanova University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value public administration and social service schools in the Middle Atlantic Region . Villanova is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Villanova.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Villanova are $21,199 a year.

Villanova also took the #5 spot in our Best Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region rankings.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Villanova University Report

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means California University of Pennsylvania is a great value for public administration and social service students working on their graduate certificate. Cal U is a moderately-sized public school located in the small suburb of California.

Cal U graduate students pay an average of $18,508 in tuition and fees each year.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend West Chester University of Pennsylvania. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list. Located in the large suburb of West Chester, WCUPA is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at WCUPA are $16,758 per year.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at West Chester University of Pennsylvania

With a ranking of #6, Millersville University of Pennsylvania did quite well on this year’s best value schools for public administration and social service students working on their graduate certificate. Millersville is a medium-sized public school located in the suburb of Millersville.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Millersville are $16,794 per year.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at Millersville University of Pennsylvania

Bowie State University landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate public administration and social service programs. Located in the large suburb of Bowie, Bowie State University is a public college with a medium-sized student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Bowie State University are $15,407 per year.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at Bowie State University

#8

Towson University

Towson, MD

Towson University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. Located in the small city of Towson, Towson is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Towson are $19,890 a year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Towson University Report

#9

Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD

Johns Hopkins University ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list. Located in the large city of Baltimore, Johns Hopkins is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Johns Hopkins are $61,202 per year.

In addition to its great value ranking, Johns Hopkins is in the top 5% of all schools on our Best Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at Johns Hopkins University

#10

The College at Brockport

Brockport, NY

The College at Brockport landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate public administration and social service programs. Located in the fringe town of Brockport, SUNY Brockport is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at SUNY Brockport are $24,100 per year.

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Best Public Administration & Social Service Colleges by State

Explore the best public administration and social service schools for a specific state in the Middle Atlantic region.

State Degrees Awarded
New York 6,455
Pennsylvania 2,116
Maryland 1,050
New Jersey 1,665
District of Columbia 820
Delaware 160

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 24 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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