2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in District of Columbia

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in District of Columbia” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2021-2022, 6,484 people earned their degree in public policy, making the major the 113th most popular in the United States. In , public policy graduates who were awarded their degree in , earned an average of $49,451 and had an average of $32,327 in loans still to pay off.

Across District of Columbia, there were 211 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $67,076 and $69,288 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 203 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $64,686 and $62,807 respectively.

This year’s “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in District of Columbia” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in public policy. This a ranking of the schools where the largest percentage of students has enrolled in public policy.

Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The public policy school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in District of Columbia”.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our 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.

Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in District of Columbia

The colleges and universities below are the best for district of columbia master’s degree public policy students.

Top 3 Most Focused Master’s Degree Colleges for Public Policy in District of Columbia

1

Georgetown University
Washington, District of Columbia

#1 overall quality in District of Columbia

$70,745 Average Early-Career Earnings

$99,635 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Georgetown University. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in District of Columbia list. This large school is located in Washington, District of Columbia, and it awarded 59 masters’s public policy degrees in 2021-2022.

The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.2% 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 98%.

Read full report on Public Policy at Georgetown

2

American University
Washington, District of Columbia

#3 overall quality in District of Columbia

$59,308 Average Early-Career Earnings

$54,986 Average Student Debt

Out of the 3 schools in the Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in District of Columbia that were part of this year’s ranking, American University landed the #2 spot on the list. The American University is a fairly large school located in Washington, District of Columbia that handed out 63 masters’s public policy degrees in 2021-2022.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 90%. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.9% 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 Public Policy at The American University

3

George Washington University
Washington, District of Columbia

#2 overall quality in District of Columbia

$71,176 Average Early-Career Earnings

$53,242 Average Student Debt

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend George Washington University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Schools for a Master’s Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in District of Columbia list. GWU is a private not-for-profit institution located in Washington, District of Columbia. The school has a large population, and it awarded 74 masters’s degrees in 2021-2022.

The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 0.4%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 91%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Public Policy at George Washington University

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.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to The Official CTBTO Photostream.