Public Policy is above average in terms of popularity with it being the #55 most popular master's degree program in the country. So, you have a fair amount of options to choose from when looking for a school.
For its 2025 ranking, College Factual looked at 5 schools in the Great Lakes Region to determine which ones were the best for public policy students pursuing a master's degree. Combined, these schools handed out 244 master's degrees in public policy to qualified students.
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Choosing a Great Public Policy School for Your Master's Degree
Your choice of public policy for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality public policy program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
Overall Quality Is a Must
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 for a Master's Degree ranking. This ranking considered factors such as graduation rates, overall graduate earnings and other educational resources to identify great colleges and universities.
Average Early-Career Salaries
Average early-career salary of those graduating with their master's degree is one indicator we use in our analysis to find the schools that offer the highest-quality education. After all, your master's degree won't mean much if it doesn't help you find a job that will help you earn a living.
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 master'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 master'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 master's degree.
Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we've developed a number of rankings, including this Best Public Policy Master's Degree Schools in the Great Lakes Region list, to help you choose the best school for you.
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Fit new strategic skills into your public service passion and goals when you earn an MBA in Public Administration from Southern New Hampshire University.
University of Michigan - Ann Arbor is one of the best schools in the United States for getting a master's degree in public policy. U-M is a fairly large public university located in the city of Ann Arbor.
Public Policy master's degree recipients from University of Michigan - Ann Arbor get an earnings boost of approximately $10,393 over the typical income of public policy graduates.
It's difficult to beat University of Wisconsin - Madison if you wish to pursue a master's degree in public policy. Located in the large city of Madison, UW - Madison is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Master's graduates who receive their degree from the public policy program earn around $63,862 for their early career.
It's difficult to beat Michigan State University if you want to pursue a master's degree in public policy. Located in the city of East Lansing, Michigan State is a public university with a fairly large student population.
Students who graduate with their master's from the public policy program report average early career earnings of $52,813.
The bars on the spread charts above show the distribution of the schools on this list +/- one standard deviation from the mean.
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 the rest 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).
Your choice of public policy for getting your master's degree school matters. Important measures of a quality public policy program can vary widely even among the top schools. Below we explain some of the most important factors to consider before making your choice:
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