2023 Most Focused Colleges for Public Policy in Maryland
4
Ranked Colleges
$31,700
Avg Cost*
When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Schools Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in Maryland” ranking is part of that endeavor.
Public Policy is the 113th most popular major in the country with 6,484 degrees awarded in 2021-2022. 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 Maryland, there were 286 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $65,778 and $26,536 respectively.
This year’s “Schools Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in Maryland” ranking looked at 4 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in public policy. The colleges and universities that top this list are recognized because their public policy program is one of the largest majors offered at the school.
See our ranking methodology to learn more.
One Size Does Not Fit All
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Schools Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in Maryland” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.
Schools Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in Maryland
The following schools top our list of the Best “Schools Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in Maryland”.
Top 4 Most Focused Colleges for Public Policy in Maryland
Out of the 4 schools in the Schools Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in Maryland that were part of this year’s ranking, St Mary’s College of Maryland landed the #1 spot on the list. St Mary’s College of Maryland is located in St. Mary’s City, Maryland and, has a small student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 10 ’s public policy degrees to qualified students.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 85%.
Full SMCM Public Policy Report
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Maryland - College Park. The school came in at #2 for the Schools Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in Maryland. Located in College Park, Maryland, this large public school handed out 262 degrees to qualified ’s public policy students in 2021-2022.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.7% 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%. With a freshman retention rate of 95%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.
Full University of Maryland - College Park Public Policy Report
Out of the 4 schools in the Schools Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in Maryland that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Maryland - Baltimore County landed the #3 spot on the list. University of Maryland - Baltimore County is located in Baltimore, Maryland and, has a fairly large student population. In 2021-2022, this school awarded 14 ’s public policy degrees to qualified students.
With a freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.1%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Read full report on Public Policy at UMBC
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Johns Hopkins University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Schools Highly Focused on Public Policy Major in Maryland list. Johns Hopkins University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Baltimore, Maryland. The school has a large population, and it awarded 0 ’s degrees in 2021-2022.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.
Read full report on Public Policy at Johns Hopkins
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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).
- 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.
- 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.
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