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Best Value Political Science & Government Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

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2023 Best Value Political Science & Government Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

16 Colleges
$36,470 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$70,516 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Political Science & Government Doctor's Degree School for You

Political Science & Government is the #75 most popular major in the country with 2,664 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Value Political Science & Government Doctor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. Our analysis looked at 16 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which doctor's degree programs offered the best value experiences for political science students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

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 Political Science & Government Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for political science majors pursuing a doctor's degree.

Top 10 Best Political Science & Government Doctor's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Northern Illinois University the best value school in the Great Lakes Region for political science and government students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the 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 Political Science & Government at Northern Illinois University Report

Out of the 16 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Wisconsin - Madison landed the # 2 spot on the list. UW - Madison is a very large public school located in the large city of Madison.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UW - Madison are $25,501 per year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, UW - Madison also is in the top 15% of our Best Political Science & Government Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking.

Read full report on Political Science & Government at University of Wisconsin - Madison

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at Loyola University Chicago helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value political science and government schools in the Great Lakes Region . Loyola Chicago is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Loyola Chicago are $19,894 a year.

Read More…

#4

Purdue University - Main Campus

West Lafayette, IN

Out of the 16 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Purdue University - Main Campus landed the # 4 spot on the list. Purdue is a very large public school located in the city of West Lafayette.

Purdue graduate students pay an average of $28,794 in tuition and fees each year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, Purdue also did well on our Best Political Science & Government Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Full Political Science & Government at Purdue University - Main Campus Report

Out of the 16 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign landed the # 4 spot on the list. UIUC is a very large public school located in the city of Champaign.

UIUC graduate students pay an average of $30,862 in tuition and fees each year.

UIUC also claimed a spot on our Best Political Science & Government Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.

Full Political Science & Government at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Report

#6

Michigan State University

East Lansing, MI

Michigan State University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Political Science & Government Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. Located in the small city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public college with a very large student population.

Michigan State graduate students pay an average of $38,638 in tuition and fees each year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Michigan State also is in the top 15% of our Best Political Science & Government Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking.

Read full report on Political Science & Government at Michigan State University

Indiana University - Bloomington landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value doctor’s degree political science and government programs. Located in the city of Bloomington, IU Bloomington is a public school with a very large student population.

IU Bloomington graduate students pay an average of $33,352 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Political Science & Government at Indiana University - Bloomington Report

#8

Northwestern University

Evanston, IL

Northwestern University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for political science and government students to get a doctor’s degree. It came in at #8 on the list. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the small city of Evanston.

Northwestern graduate students pay an average of $56,567 in tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Northwestern is ranked #1 for overall quality for political science in the Great Lakes Region .

Full Political Science & Government at Northwestern University Report

#9

University of Notre Dame

Notre Dame, IN

University of Notre Dame landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value doctor’s degree political science and government programs. Notre Dame is a large private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Notre Dame.

Notre Dame graduate students pay an average of $58,662 in tuition and fees each year.

Notre Dame not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #4 on our Best Political Science & Government Doctor’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

Read full report on Political Science & Government at University of Notre Dame

With a ranking of #10, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee did quite well on this year’s best value schools for political science and government students working on their doctor’s degree. UWM is a very large public school located in the large city of Milwaukee.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UWM are $25,651 per year.

Read More…

Best Political Science & Government Colleges by State

Explore the best political science and government colleges for a specific state in the Great Lakes region.

State Degrees Awarded
Michigan 53
Illinois 156
Ohio 59
Indiana 48
Wisconsin 40

Political Science & Government is one of 12 different types of programs to choose from.

Majors Similar to Political Science

Related Major Annual Graduates
Economics 6,173
International Relations & National Security 5,010
Geography & Cartography 2,315
Sociology 1,907
Anthropology 1,446

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 16 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 UKWiki at English Wikipedia.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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