Public universities offering master's degree programs charge much lower tuition fees than private universities and can provide greater value for students. Public universities can charge lower tuition as they are subsidized by public money; they have an academic mandate, not a profit motive. According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Education's National Center for Education Statistics, the costs of tuition as well as room and board for a full-time student at a four-year institution in 2008-2009 was $14,256 at a public university and $31,704 at a private university.
In the United States, public universities, as they are financed by public money, have separate tuition rates for local in-state students and out-of-state or international students. Students who have lived in the same state as the university for a certain length of time automatically have access to the much lower in-state student rates. Some universities also have reciprocal agreements with other states' universities, allowing students to take advantage of lower in-state fees across state borders. This means that universities located in the state the student resides in, or has reciprocal agreements with, can provide the best value for achieving a master's degree.
A number of master's degree programs have prerequisite courses, especially for those students who did not complete a bachelor's degree in the subject that the master's degree will cover. Having to complete a year or more of prerequisite courses before applying to a university for the master's degree program is not generally very economical. A university that has few or no prerequisites presents a better value than a university with many prerequisites.
The university with the greatest value is one that also has the master's degree program that best fits your interests and goals. For example, if you want to work as an international negotiator, opting for a university that offers a master's degree in International Negotiation, as opposed to a university that has only a master's degree in political science, will in the long run be of greater value. Choosing a cheaper university will not be the best value for you if the programs it has available do not meet your needs.