2023 Best Public Administration Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in Virginia
3
Ranked Colleges
113
Degrees Awarded
$42,546
Avg Salary
It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for veterans. College Factual has developed its “Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Public Admin for a Bachelor’s” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.
Public Administration is the 60th most popular major in the country with 16,905 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, public administration graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $51,352 and had an average of $29,054 in loans still to pay off.
Across Virginia, there were 604 public administration graduates with average earnings and debt of $48,548 and $29,668 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 113 public administration graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,553 and $27,844 respectively.
For this year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Public Admin for a Bachelor’s” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in public administration. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality public administration programs as well as strong veteran support.
Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the public administration program at the school, veteran affordability, and veteran population. See our ranking methodology to learn more.
One Size Does Not Fit All
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 “Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Public Admin for a Bachelor’s” list to help you make the college decision.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.
Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Public Admin for a Bachelor’s
The colleges and universities below are the best for virginia bachelor’s degree vets studying public admin.
Top 3 Best Public Administration Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Veterans in Virginia
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend James Madison University. The school came in at #1 for the Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Public Admin for a Bachelor’s. JMU is a public institution located in Harrisonburg, Virginia. The school has a large population, and it awarded 59 bachelors’s degrees in 2020-2021.
JMU also made our “Best Public Administration Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Virginia” list, coming in at #1.Our most recent data shows that 842 of the 21,594 students enrolled at James Madison University were GI Bill® students, of which 464 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $5,824. On top of their other funding sources, 3 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]% 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 89%.
Full James Madison University Veteran Student Life Report
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend George Mason University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Public Admin for a Bachelor’s list. Fairfax, Virginia is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s public admin degrees to 33 students in 2020-2021.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at GMU, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Public Administration Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Virginia” ranking.Our most recent data shows that 2,334 of the 38,541 students enrolled at George Mason University were GI Bill® students, of which 1,583 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $10,710. To help with additional expenses, 42 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 86%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.
[Read full report on veteran student life at GMU]](/colleges/george-mason-university/student-life/veterans/)
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Liberty University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Virginia for Public Admin for a Bachelor’s list. Liberty University is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Lynchburg, Virginia. It awarded 14 bachelors’s public admin degrees in 2020-2021.
Liberty University not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Public Administration Bachelor’s Degree Schools in Virginia” list.Of the 93,349 students enrolled at Liberty University, 13,282 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 8,897 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $4,888. During this same period, 386 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.
Full Liberty University Veteran Student Life Report
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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).
- Veteran-specific data can be found at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
- 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
- *Avg Salary and Avg 4-Year Grad Rate are for the top schools only.
- **GI Bill® student total includes all chapters of the GI Bill® program (e.g., Post-9/11, Montgomery GI Bill, Reserve Education Assistance Program, and Veteran Readiness and Employment)
- 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.
Credits