2025 Best Public Policy Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes 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.
In 2025, College Factual analyzed 6 schools in order to identify the top ones for its Best Public Policy Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region ranking. When you put them all together, these colleges and universities awarded 304 bachelor's degrees in public policy during the 2022-2023 academic year.
Jump to one of the following sections: * Our Methodology
Choosing a Great Public Policy School for Your Bachelor's Degree
The public policy bachelor's degree program you select can have a big impact on your future. Important measures of a quality public policy program can vary widely even among the top schools. To make it into this list, a school must excel in the following areas.
A Great Overall School
A school that excels in educating for a particular major and degree level must be a great school overall as well. To make it into this list a school must rank well in our overall Best Colleges ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
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
In addition to the above, you should consider some of the following factors:
- Major Focus - How many resources a school devotes to public policy students as compared to other majors.
- Major Demand - How many other public policy students want to attend this school to pursue a bachelor's degree.
- Educational Resources - The amount of money and other resources allocated to students while they are pursuing their degree. These resources include such things as number of students per instructor and education expenditures per student.
- Student Debt - How much debt public policy students go into to obtain their bachelor'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 policy related body.
Our complete ranking methodology documents in more detail how we consider these factors to identify the best colleges for public policy students working on their bachelor's degree.
More Ways to Rank Public Policy 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 Policy Bachelor's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region 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.
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.
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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 Great Lakes Region
Below you'll see a list of the best colleges and universities for pursuing a bachelor's degree in public policy.
Top Great Lakes Region Schools for a Bachelor's in Public Policy
University of Chicago is a good choice for individuals pursuing a bachelor's degree in public policy. Located in the large city of Chicago, UChicago is a private not-for-profit university with a large student population.
Those public policy students who get their bachelor's degree from University of Chicago receive $12,198 more than the typical public policy grad.
More information about a bachelor’s in public policy from University of Chicago
Every student pursuing a degree in a bachelor's degree in public policy needs to take a look at University of Michigan - Ann Arbor. U-M is a very large public university located in the midsize city of Ann Arbor.
Soon after graduation, public policy bachelor's recipients typically make about $49,685 in their early careers.
More information about a bachelor’s in public policy from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Northwestern University is one of the finest schools in the United States for getting a bachelor's degree in public policy. Northwestern is a fairly large private not-for-profit university located in the city of Evanston.
Bachelor's students who receive their degree from the public policy program earn about $48,558 in the first couple years of their career.
More information about a bachelor’s in public policy from Northwestern University
Ohio State University - Main Campus is one of the finest schools in the country for getting a bachelor's degree in public policy. Ohio State is a fairly large public university located in the city of Columbus.
Bachelor's recipients from the public policy program at Ohio State University - Main Campus get $2,784 more than the typical graduate with the same degree when they enter the workforce.
More information about a bachelor’s in public policy from Ohio State University - Main Campus
Located in the small city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a very large student population.
Students who graduate with their bachelor's from the public policy program report average early career earnings of $43,005.
More information about a bachelor’s in public policy from Michigan State University
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