2025 Best Public Policy Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region
a bachelor's degree in
public policy is more popular than many other degrees. In fact, it ranks #121 out of 363 on popularity of all such degrees in the nation. As a result, there are many college that offer the degree, making your choice of school a hard one.
College Factual reviewed 8 schools in the Southeast Region to determine which ones were the best for bachelor's degree seekers in the field of public policy. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 697 bachelor's degrees in public policy during the 2022-2023 academic year.
What's on this page: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Public Policy School for Your Bachelor's Degree
Your choice of public policy for getting your bachelor's degree school matters. This section explores some of the factors we include in our ranking and how much they vary depending on the school you select. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
The overall quality of a bachelor's degree school is important to ensure a good education, not just how well they do in a particular major. To take this into account we include a school's overall Best Colleges ranking which itself looks at a host of different factors like degree completion, educational resources, student body caliber and post-graduation earnings for the school as a whole.
Early-Career Earnings
One measure we use to determine the quality of a school is to look at the average salary of bachelor's graduates during the early years of their career. That is, everyone wants their bachelor's degree to be worth something, and salaries are one measure of determining that.
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 policy students vs. other majors.
- Major Demand - The number of public policy students who choose to seek a bachelor'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 easy is it for public policy to pay back their student loans after receiving their bachelor's degree.
- Accreditation - Whether a school is regionally accredited and/or accredited by a recognized public policy related body.
Our full ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best schools for public policy students working on their bachelor's degree.
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 Best Public Policy Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Southeast Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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.
Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
ADVERTISEMENTS
Featured Public Policy Programs
Learn about start dates, transferring credits, availability of financial aid, and more by contacting the universities below.
Best Schools for Bachelor’s Students to Study Public Policy in the Southeast Region
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in public policy.
Top Southeast Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Public Policy
Duke University is a wonderful choice for individuals interested in a bachelor's degree in public policy. Duke is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Durham.
Public Policy bachelor's degree recipients from Duke University earn a boost of approximately $14,016 above the average income of public policy majors.
More information about a bachelor’s in public policy from Duke University
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in public policy. Located in the small city of Chapel Hill, UNC Chapel Hill is a public university with a very large student population.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the public policy program make about $48,252 in their early career salary.
More information about a bachelor’s in public policy from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Every student who is interested in a bachelor's degree in public policy has to check out Virginia Tech. Virginia Tech is a fairly large public school located in the small city of Blacksburg.More information about a bachelor’s in public policy from Virginia Tech
Any student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in public policy needs to look into Vanderbilt University. Located in the city of Nashville, Vanderbilt is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Those public policy students who get their bachelor's degree from Vanderbilt University receive $10,538 more than the standard public policy student.
More information about a bachelor’s in public policy from Vanderbilt University
William & Mary is a medium-sized public school located in the small suburb of Williamsburg.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the public policy program state that they receive average early career income of $36,703.
More information about a bachelor’s in public policy from William & Mary