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Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region

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2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

14 Colleges
$19,436 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.

It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.

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 Plains States Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 14 schools in the Plains States 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.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. 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.

In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used 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 Plains States Region

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for public administration and social service majors pursuing a graduate certificate.

Top 10 Best Public Administration & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools

Our analysis found Minnesota State University - Mankato to be the best value school for public administration and social service students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in the Plains States Region . Minnesota State Mankato is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Mankato.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Minnesota State Mankato are $9,308 a year.

In addition to its great value ranking, Minnesota State Mankato is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region list.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at Minnesota State University - Mankato

#2

University of South Dakota

Vermillion, SD

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means University of South Dakota is a great value for public administration and social service students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the distant town of Vermillion, USD is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at USD are $12,768 a year.

Read More…

#3

Park University

Parkville, MO

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Park University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region list. Park University is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Parkville.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Park University are $6,435 a year.

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#4

University of North Dakota

Grand Forks, ND

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of North Dakota. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region list. UND is a large public school located in the city of Grand Forks.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UND are $18,968 per year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at University of North Dakota Report

#6

Kansas State University

Manhattan, KS

Kansas State University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Graduate Certificate Schools in the Plains States Region list. K -State is a fairly large public school located in the city of Manhattan.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at K -State are $23,949 a year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Kansas State University Report

Wichita State 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 #7 on the list. Located in the large city of Wichita, WSU is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at WSU are $15,323 per year.

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University of Nebraska at Omaha 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. UNOMAHA is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Omaha.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UNOMAHA are $16,374 a year.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at University of Nebraska at Omaha

Missouri State University - Springfield landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate public administration and social service programs. Missouri State is a fairly large public school located in the city of Springfield.

Missouri State graduate students pay an average of $12,618 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at Missouri State University - Springfield

#10

University of Kansas

Lawrence, KS

University of Kansas landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate public administration and social service programs. Located in the city of Lawrence, KU is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at KU are $25,007 per year.

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

Best Public Administration & Social Service Colleges by State

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

State Degrees Awarded
Kansas 470
Missouri 898
Minnesota 2,616
Iowa 290
North Dakota 91
Nebraska 215
South Dakota 67

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

Majors Similar to Public Administration & Social Service

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 14 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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