Master's · Los Angeles, California
Is Public Administration at California State University-Los Angeles worth it?
Medium confidence Medium confidence: 40–99 graduates behind the earnings figures.
The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans
Pays back in time: graduates typically recover the cost in about 3.2 years.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $83,456
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $78,056
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- $22,696
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Typical borrowing (no graduate net price is published)
- $24k (likely $24k – $24k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- $9k a year vs bachelor's graduates 4 years out in CA
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- 3.2 years (likely 1.6–20+)
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- −$93k (likely −$186k – $14k)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- −$41k (likely −$219k – $169k)
- Today's dollars
Change income, residency or loans Compare Public Administration at other schools
Scorecard reports no net price for graduate programs; cost is based on what graduates typically borrowed.
Other majors at California State University-Los Angeles
- Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Master's)$137,184
- Business Administration, Management and Operations (Master's)$126,611
- Civil Engineering (Master's)$120,651
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Master's)$118,058
- Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Bachelor's)$116,182
- Special Education and Teaching (Master's)$104,208
- Communication Disorders Sciences and Services (Master's)$101,094
- Mechanical Engineering (Master's)$99,093
- Educational Administration and Supervision (Doctoral)$96,577
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Bachelor's)$96,014
- Civil Engineering (Bachelor's)$94,760
- Mechanical Engineering (Bachelor's)$93,028
Public Administration at other schools in California
- Golden Gate University$122,598
- San Francisco State University$108,093
- University of Southern California$103,721
- California State University-East Bay$99,879
- University of San Francisco$99,141
- California Baptist University$98,056
- Notre Dame de Namur University$93,465
- California State University-Northridge$92,353
- San Diego State University$91,303
- Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey$89,916