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2023 Best Public Policy Colleges for Veterans in Pennsylvania

5 Ranked Colleges
330 Degrees Awarded
$37,500 Avg Cost*
Most Veteran Friendly in Pennsylvania for Public Policy

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, veterans have many different options to choose from. College Factual has developed its “Most Veteran Friendly in Pennsylvania for Public Policy” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Public Policy is the 113th most popular major in the country with 6,430 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, public policy graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $49,451 and had an average of $21,866 in loans still to pay off.

Across Pennsylvania, there were 330 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $57,423 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in Pennsylvania for Public Policy” ranking, we looked at 5 colleges that offer a degree in public policy. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great public policy programs and a strong support system for veterans and active service members.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the public policy program at the school, veteran affordability, and veteran satisfaction. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

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Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Most Veteran Friendly in Pennsylvania for Public Policy” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Most Veteran Friendly in Pennsylvania for Public Policy

The following schools top our list of the Best “Most Veteran Friendly in Pennsylvania for Public Policy”.

Top 5 Best Public Policy Colleges for Veterans in Pennsylvania

1
Carnegie Mellon crest
Carnegie Mellon University
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Out of the 5 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in Pennsylvania for Public Policy that were part of this year’s ranking, Carnegie Mellon University landed the #1 spot on the list. Carnegie Mellon University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. It awarded 75 ’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our pennsylvania vets studying public policy list, Carnegie Mellon has also earned the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] rank in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.According to our most recent data, Carnegie Mellon supports 13,519 students, and 117 of those are GI Bill® students, of which 72 are Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $18,422. In addition to receiving other benefits, 36 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program.

The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only [DEFAULT_RATE_STRING]%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 96%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Full Carnegie Mellon Veteran Student Life Report

2
UPenn crest
University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Pennsylvania. The school came in at #2 for the Most Veteran Friendly in Pennsylvania for Public Policy. This large school is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and it awarded 31 ’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.

UPenn not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] on our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list.Of the 26,552 students enrolled at UPenn, 324 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 131 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $19,383. In addition to receiving other benefits, 78 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program.

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%. With a freshman retention rate of 95%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 6 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors.

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3

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Pennsylvania for Public Policy list. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s public policy degrees to 33 students in 2020-2021.

Pitt not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] on our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list.Our most recent data shows that 509 of the 32,277 students enrolled at Pitt were GI Bill® students, of which 364 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $16,281. On top of their other funding sources, 0 students received scholarships through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. 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%.

Full University of Pittsburgh - Pittsburgh Campus Veteran Student Life Report

4
Temple crest
Temple University
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Out of the 5 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in Pennsylvania for Public Policy that were part of this year’s ranking, Temple University landed the #4 spot on the list. Philadelphia, Pennsylvania is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s public policy degrees to 50 students in 2020-2021.

Temple not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] on our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list.Among the 37,236 students enrolled at Temple University, 830 are GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 510 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $13,479. In addition to receiving other benefits, 9 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Temple University offers credit for military training for eligible students.

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 87%.

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5
Dickinson crest
Dickinson College
Carlisle, Pennsylvania

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Dickinson College. The school came in at #5 for the Most Veteran Friendly in Pennsylvania for Public Policy. Carlisle, Pennsylvania is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s public policy degrees to 16 students in 2020-2021.

Dickinson also took the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] spot in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Our most recent data shows that 30 of the 1,932 students enrolled at Dickinson were GI Bill® students, of which 22 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $25,185. During this same period, 20 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program.

The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. 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%.

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Notes and References

References

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

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