2023 Best Public Policy Colleges for Veterans in Massachusetts
7
Ranked Colleges
551
Degrees Awarded
$36,200
Avg Cost*
Veterans have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Public Policy” ranking - to help you make that decision.
In 2020-2021, 6,430 people earned their degree in public policy, making the major the 113th most popular in the United States. 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 Massachusetts, there were 551 public policy graduates with average earnings and debt of $53,148 and $25,000 respectively.
For this year’s “Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Public Policy” ranking, we looked at 7 colleges that offer a degree in public policy. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent public policy programs, but they also offer a lot of support to veterans and active service members.
To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as veteran satisfaction, veteran affordability, and overall quality of the public policy program at the school. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.
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 “Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Public Policy” list to help you make the college decision.
We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. 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.
Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Public Policy
The colleges and universities below are the best for massachusetts vets studying public policy.
Top 7 Best Public Policy Colleges for Veterans in Massachusetts
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Brandeis University. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Public Policy list. Brandeis University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Waltham, Massachusetts. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 185 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
Brandeis also made our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list, coming in at #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS].Our most recent data shows that 41 of the 5,440 students enrolled at Brandeis University were GI Bill® students, of which 22 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $14,483. In addition to receiving other benefits, 15 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program.
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. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 90%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. 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%.
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Out of the 7 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Public Policy that were part of this year’s ranking, Harvard University landed the #2 spot on the list. Harvard University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The school has a large population, and it awarded 193 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our massachusetts vets studying public policy list, Harvard has also earned the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] rank in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Of the 30,391 students enrolled at Harvard University, 304 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 254 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $8,012. To help with additional expenses, 1 students received scholarships 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%. Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors.
Full Harvard Veteran Student Life Report
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Massachusetts - Boston. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Public Policy list. Boston, Massachusetts is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out ’s public policy degrees to 25 students in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our massachusetts vets studying public policy list, UMass Boston has also earned the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] rank in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Among the 16,259 students enrolled at UMass Boston, 678 are GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 362 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $12,414. During this same period, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.
Full UMass Boston Veteran Student Life Report
Out of the 7 schools in the Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Public Policy that were part of this year’s ranking, Suffolk University landed the #4 spot on the list. Suffolk is a private not-for-profit institution located in Boston, Massachusetts. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 9 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our massachusetts vets studying public policy list, Suffolk has also earned the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] rank in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Among the 6,830 students enrolled at Suffolk University, 54 are GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 10 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $16,143. During this same period, 21 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Students may be able to receive credit for their military training, depending on their background.
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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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Simmons University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Public Policy list. Simmons is a medium-sized school located in Boston, Massachusetts that handed out 4 ’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our massachusetts vets studying public policy list, Simmons has also earned the #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] rank in our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” ranking.Our most recent data shows that 239 of the 6,263 students enrolled at Simmons University were GI Bill® students, of which 143 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $13,906. During this same period, 20 students received scholarships 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%. The impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 9 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 veteran student life at Simmons]](/colleges/simmons-college/student-life/veterans/)
University of Massachusetts Amherst ranked #6 on this year’s Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Public Policy list. University of Massachusetts Amherst is a large school located in Amherst, Massachusetts that handed out 57 ’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
UMass Amherst also made our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list, coming in at #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS].Of the 31,642 students enrolled at UMass Amherst, 477 were GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 252 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average Post-9/11 GI Bill® award for tuition and fees at the school was $8,295. On top of their other funding sources, 21 students received funds through the Yellow Ribbon Program. Eligible students may be able to receive credit for their military training.
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%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 89%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
[Read full report on veteran student life at University of Massachusetts Amherst]](/colleges/university-of-massachusetts-amherst/student-life/veterans/)
Tufts University landed the #7 spot on the 2023 Most Veteran Friendly in Massachusetts for Public Policy ranking. Tufts University is a fairly large private not-for-profit school situated in Medford, Massachusetts. It awarded 9 ’s public policy degrees in 2020-2021.
Tufts did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #[COLLEGE_QUALITY_RANK_ALL_LEVELS] on our “[COLLEGE_QUALITY_NAME_ALL_LEVELS]” list.Among the 12,219 students enrolled at Tufts University, 1 are GI Bill® students, according to our most recent data. Out of that number, 0 were Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients. The average tuition and fees award for the Post-9/11 GI Bill® recipients was $0. During this same period, 0 students qualified for the Yellow Ribbon Program.
Since the school has a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. With a freshman retention rate of 92%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate 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%.
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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).
- Veteran-specific data can be found at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs.
- 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.
- **GI Bill® student total includes all chapters of the GI Bill® program (e.g., Post-9/11, Montgomery GI Bill, Reserve Education Assistance Program, and Veteran Readiness and Employment)
- 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
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