2023 Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Criminal Justice Major in the Southeast Region

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Criminal Justice Major in the Southeast Region” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2021-2022, 31,754 people earned their degree in criminal justice, making the major the 27th most popular in the United States.

Across the Southeast region, there were 7,114 criminal justice graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the doctor’s degree level specifically, there were 12 criminal justice graduates with average earnings and debt of $74,674 and $121,130 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Criminal Justice Major in the Southeast Region” ranking analyzed 4 colleges that offered a degree in criminal justice. That schools that top this list have a program in criminal justice in which the largest percentage of students at the school are enrolled.

For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Criminal Justice Major in the Southeast Region” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Criminal Justice Major in the Southeast Region

The colleges and universities below are the best for southeast region doctor’s degree criminal justice students.

Top 4 Most Focused Doctor’s Degree Colleges for Criminal Justice in the Southeast Region

1

University of Louisville
Louisville, Kentucky

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Louisville. The school came in at #1 for the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Criminal Justice Major in the Southeast Region. This large school is located in Louisville, Kentucky, and it awarded 5 doctorate’s criminal justice degrees in 2021-2022.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full UofL Criminal Justice Report

2

George Mason University
Fairfax, Virginia

Top 20% overall quality in Southeast

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend George Mason University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Criminal Justice Major in the Southeast Region list. GMU is a public institution located in Fairfax, Virginia. The school has a large population, and it awarded 7 doctorate’s degrees in 2021-2022.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full George Mason University Criminal Justice Report

3

Keiser University - Ft Lauderdale
Fort Lauderdale, Florida

Out of the 4 schools in the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Criminal Justice Major in the Southeast Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Keiser University - Ft Lauderdale landed the #3 spot on the list. Keiser University - Ft Lauderdale is a fairly large school located in Fort Lauderdale, Florida that handed out 160 doctorate’s criminal justice degrees in 2021-2022.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 2.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full Keiser University - Ft Lauderdale Criminal Justice Report

3

University of South Carolina - Columbia
Columbia, South Carolina

Out of the 4 schools in the Schools for a Doctorate Highly Focused on Criminal Justice Major in the Southeast Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of South Carolina - Columbia landed the #3 spot on the list. UofSC is located in Columbia, South Carolina and, has a large student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 228 doctorate’s criminal justice degrees to qualified students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 87%. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.6% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Read full report on Criminal Justice at UofSC

Notes and References

References

• 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 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).
• Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

• *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
• Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.