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

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

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

28 Colleges
$27,346 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$50,486 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Political Science & Government Master'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.

The Best Value Political Science & Government Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking is one of many tools that Grad Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 28 schools in the Great Lakes Region to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for political science 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 Political Science & Government Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region

Check out the political science master's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

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

Our analysis found Illinois State University to be the best value school for political science and government students who want to pursue a master’s degree in the Great Lakes Region . Located in the medium-sized suburb of Normal, Illinois State is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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

On top of its placing in our value ranking, Illinois State also did well on our Best Political Science & Government Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Full Political Science & Government at Illinois State University Report

Out of the 28 schools in the Great Lakes Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Western Illinois University landed the # 2 spot on the list. WIU is a moderately-sized public school located in the town of Macomb.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at WIU are $12,182 a year.

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The excellent master’s degree programs at Northern Illinois University 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 . Located in the suburb of Dekalb, NIU is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of Akron Main Campus. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Political Science & Government Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. University of Akron Main Campus is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Akron.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at University of Akron Main Campus are $11,936 per year.

Read full report on Political Science & Government at University of Akron Main Campus

#5

Marquette University

Milwaukee, WI

The excellent master’s degree programs at Marquette University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value political science and government schools in the Great Lakes Region . Located in the city of Milwaukee, Marquette is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Marquette graduate students pay an average of $21,960 in tuition and fees each year.

Marquette excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Political Science & Government Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list.

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University of Illinois at Springfield did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for political science and government students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the medium-sized city of Springfield, UIS is a public college with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UIS are $16,757 a year.

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University of Wisconsin - Madison landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree political science and government programs. UW - Madison is a very large public school located in the city of Madison.

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

On top of its placing in our value ranking, UW - Madison also did well on our Best Political Science & Government Master’s Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list. It’s in the top 5% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

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With a ranking of #8, University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee did quite well on this year’s best value schools for political science and government students working on their master’s degree. UWM is a fairly large public school located in the city of Milwaukee.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UWM are $25,651 a year.

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

Ohio University - Athens Campus did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for political science and government students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list. OHIO Athens is a very large public school located in the distant town of Athens.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at OHIO Athens are $17,712 per year.

Read full report on Political Science & Government at Ohio University - Athens Campus

With a ranking of #10, Loyola University Chicago did quite well on this year’s best value schools for political science and government students working on their master’s degree. Loyola Chicago is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Chicago.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Loyola Chicago are $19,894 per year.

Read full report on Political Science & Government at Loyola University Chicago

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 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 UKWiki at English Wikipedia.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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