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Best Value Public & Social Service Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

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2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Master's Degree Schools in Illinois

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

22 Colleges
$18,280 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$48,536 Avg Salary

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

In 2020-2021, public administration and social service students earned 2,690 degrees and certificates from an Illinois school, making the subject the 5th in the state.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

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 Illinois ranking. This report analyzed 22 schools in Illinois 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 Illinois

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

Governors State University

University Park, IL

Our 2023 rankings named Governors State University the best value school in Illinois for public administration and social service students working on their master’s degree. GSU is a small public school located in the rural area of University Park.

GSU graduate students pay an average of $8,320 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Governors State University Report

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

Illinois State graduate students pay an average of $9,773 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Illinois State not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #5 on our Best Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.

Read More…

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Northern Illinois University. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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

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The excellent master’s degree programs at Western Illinois University helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value public administration and social service schools in Illinois. WIU is a medium-sized public school located in the remote town of Macomb.

WIU graduate students pay an average of $12,182 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at Western Illinois University

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. Located in the large suburb of Edwardsville, SIUE is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at SIUE are $9,316 per year.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville

With a ranking of #6, University of Illinois at Springfield did quite well on this year’s best value schools for public administration and social service students working on their master’s degree. Located in the medium-sized city of Springfield, UIS is a public college with a small student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UIS are $11,111 per year.

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

#7

Aurora University

Aurora, IL

Aurora University 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 #7 on the list. Located in the large suburb of Aurora, Aurora is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

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

In addition to its great value ranking, Aurora is in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list.

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

Chicago State University ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in Illinois list. CSU is a small public school located in the city of Chicago.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at CSU are $9,728 a year.

Read More…

#9

Concordia University, Chicago

River Forest, IL

Concordia University, Chicago landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree public administration and social service programs. Located in the suburb of River Forest, Concordia University, Chicago is a private not-for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Concordia University, Chicago are $9,378 a year.

Read More…

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign 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. UIUC is a very large public school located in the city of Champaign.

UIUC graduate students pay an average of $17,823 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, UIUC is ranked #3 for overall quality for public administration and social service in Illinois.

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

Best Value Public Administration & Social Service Colleges in the Great Lakes Region

Explore all the Best Value Public Administration & Social Service Colleges in the Great Lakes Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
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 22 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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