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Best Value Public & Social Service Master's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

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2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Master's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

82 Colleges
$16,425 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.

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.

The Best Value Public & Social Service Master's Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking is one of many tools that Grad Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 82 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region to see which master's degree 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 Master’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region

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

Top 15% Best Public Administration & Social Service Master's Degree 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 master’s degree. FDU is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Teaneck.

FDU graduate students pay an average of $10,722 in tuition and fees each year.

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#2

Marywood University

Scranton, PA

Out of the 82 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Marywood University landed the # 2 spot on the list. Marywood is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Scranton.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Marywood are $11,438 per year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Marywood University Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Fairleigh Dickinson University - Florham Campus. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list. Located in the large suburb of Madison, FDU is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at FDU are $10,722 a year.

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#4

Montclair State University

Montclair, NJ

The excellent master’s degree programs at Montclair State 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 Middle Atlantic Region . 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.

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#5

Marist College

Poughkeepsie, NY

Out of the 82 schools in the Middle Atlantic Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Marist College landed the # 5 spot on the list. Marist is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Poughkeepsie.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Marist are $15,760 per year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Marist College Report

#6

Salisbury University

Salisbury, MD

Salisbury University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. Salisbury is a medium-sized public school located in the suburb of Salisbury.

Salisbury graduate students pay an average of $15,765 in tuition and fees each year.

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

Delaware State University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list. Located in the small city of Dover, Del State is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Del State are $11,726 a year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at Delaware State University Report

#8

Alvernia University

Reading, PA

With a ranking of #8, Alvernia University 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 small city of Reading, Alvernia is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Alvernia graduate students pay an average of $16,130 in tuition and fees each year.

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#9

Wilmington University

New Castle, DE

Wilmington 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 large suburb of New Castle, Wilmington University is a private not-for-profit school with a large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Wilmington University are $9,060 a year.

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#10

Villanova University

Villanova, PA

Villanova University landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree public administration and social service programs. Villanova is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Villanova.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Villanova are $21,199 per year.

Villanova excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 5% of all schools on our Best Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list.

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

West Chester University of Pennsylvania ranked #11 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region list. Located in the suburb of West Chester, WCUPA is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at WCUPA are $16,758 a year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at West Chester University of Pennsylvania Report

Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania came in at #12 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Public & Social Service Master’s Degree Schools in the Middle Atlantic Region ranking. Located in the fringe town of Shippensburg, Ship is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Ship are $16,830 a year.

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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 Middle Atlantic Region award.

Rank College Location
13 Ramapo College of New Jersey Mahwah, NJ
14 Nazareth College Rochester, NY
15 University of Delaware Newark, DE
16 Touro College New York, NY

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 26 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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