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

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

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

69 Colleges
$13,926 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$48,536 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Public Administration & Social Service Master'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 Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. This report analyzed 69 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which ones offered the best value master'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 Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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

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

#1

Spring Arbor University

Spring Arbor, MI

Our 2023 rankings named Spring Arbor University the best value school in the Great Lakes Region for public administration and social service students working on their master’s degree. Spring Arbor is a small private not-for-profit school located in the small suburb of Spring Arbor.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Spring Arbor are $8,383 a year.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at Spring Arbor University

#2

Ferris State University

Big Rapids, MI

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Ferris State University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the town of Big Rapids, Ferris is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Ferris graduate students pay an average of $8,232 in tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

#3

Youngstown State University

Youngstown, OH

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means Youngstown State University is a great value for public administration and social service students working on their master’s degree. Youngstown State University is a large public school located in the small city of Youngstown.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Youngstown State University are $6,931 a year.

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

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Indiana Wesleyan University - National & Global is a great value for public administration and social service students working on their master’s degree. IWU is a large private not-for-profit school located in the rural area of Marion.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at IWU are $10,440 per year.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at Indiana Wesleyan University - National & Global

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Northern Illinois University is a great value for public administration and social service students working on their master’s degree. Located in the small suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public school with a large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at NIU are $11,390 per year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Northern Illinois University Report

Western Illinois University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. WIU is a medium-sized public school located in the town of Macomb.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at WIU are $12,182 per year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Western Illinois University Report

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree public administration and social service programs. Located in the suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public college with a large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at SIUE are $9,316 a year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville Report

#8

Aurora University

Aurora, IL

Aurora University came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. 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.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Aurora University Report

Illinois State University landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree public administration and social service programs. Located in the midsize suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public college with a very large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Illinois State are $11,773 per year.

Illinois State also claimed a spot on our Best Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools in this category.

Read More…

#10

Concordia University, Chicago

River Forest, IL

Concordia University, Chicago did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public administration and social service students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. Located in the suburb of River Forest, Concordia University, Chicago is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Concordia University, Chicago are $9,378 per year.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at Concordia University, Chicago

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Value Public & Social Service Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region award.

Rank College Location
11 Marquette University Milwaukee, WI
12 University of Akron Main Campus Akron, OH
12 University of Wisconsin - Whitewater Whitewater, WI

Best Public Administration & Social Service Colleges by State

Explore the best public administration and social service schools 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 25 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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