2025 Best Public Administration Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region
Ranked #19 in popularity,
public administration is one of the most sought-after master's degree programs in the nation. This makes choosing the right school a hard decision.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 54 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Public Administration Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 2,722 master's degrees in public administration during the 2022-2023 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Public Administration School for Your Master's Degree
The public admin master's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. When choosing a school we recommend considering some of the following factors:
Quality Overall Is Important
The overall quality of a master's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To account for this we include a school's overall Best Colleges for a Master's Degree ranking which itself looks at a combination of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Average Earnings
To determine the overall quality of a graduate school, one factor we look at is the average early-career salary of those receiving their master's degree from the school. This is because one of the main reasons people pursue their master's degree is to enable themselves to find better-paying positions.
Other Factors We Consider
The metrics below are just some of the other metrics that we use to determine our rankings.
- Major Focus - How much a school focuses on public administration students vs. other majors.
- Major Demand - The number of public administration students who choose to seek a master's degree at the school.
- Educational Resources - How many resources are allocated to students. These resources may include educational expenditures per student, number of students per instructor, and graduation rate among other things.
- Student Debt - How much debt public administration students go into to obtain their master's degree and how well they are able to pay back that debt.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized public administration related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for public administration students working on their master's degree.
More Ways to Rank Public Administration Schools
When choosing the right school for you, it's important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we've created a number of major-specific rankings, including this Best Public Administration Master's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list to help you make the college decision.
Best Schools for Master’s Students to Study Public Administration in the Southeast Region
The following list ranks the best colleges and universities for pursuing a master's degree in public administration. Only those schools that rank in the top 20% of all the schools we analyze get awarded with a place on this list.
10 Top Southeast Region Schools for a Master's in Public Admin
Virginia Tech is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public administration. Virginia Tech is a fairly large public school located in the city of Blacksburg.
Master's recipients from the public administration program at Virginia Tech make $20,754 above the average college grad with the same degree shortly after graduation.
More information about a master’s in public administration from Virginia Tech
George Mason University is a wonderful option for students pursuing a master's degree in public administration. Located in the large suburb of Fairfax, GMU is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the public administration major at George Mason University earn $24,709 more than the average graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
More information about a master’s in public administration from George Mason University
Liberty University is a good choice for individuals pursuing a master's degree in public administration. Liberty University is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Lynchburg.
Master's recipients from the public administration program at Liberty University earn $4,515 more than the average graduate in this field shortly after graduation.
More information about a master’s in public administration from Liberty University
Any student who is interested in a master's degree in public administration has to check out Florida International University. Located in the large suburb of Miami, FIU is a public university with a very large student population.
Master's recipients from the public administration program at Florida International University earn $5,729 above the average college graduate in this field when they enter the workforce.
More information about a master’s in public administration from Florida International University
Located in the city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Public Administration master's degree recipients from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill get an earnings boost of about $13,167 over the typical income of public administration graduates.
More information about a master’s in public administration from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
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