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Best Value Education Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Education Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

45 Colleges
$9,059 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$36,000 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Education Bachelor's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, education students earned 25,545 degrees and certificates from a California school, making the subject the 7th in the state.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.

The Best Value Education Bachelor's Degree Schools in California ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 45 schools in California to see which bachelor's degree programs offered the best value experiences for education students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

2023 Best Value Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for education majors pursuing a bachelor's degree.

Top 10 Best Education Bachelor's Degree Schools

Our analysis found California State University - Sacramento to be the best value school for education students who want to pursue a bachelor’s degree in California. Sac State is a very large public school located in the city of Sacramento.

Sac State undergraduate students pay an average of $7,392 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - Sacramento

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means California State University - Fullerton is a great value for education students working on their bachelor’s degree. Located in the suburb of Fullerton, Cal State Fullerton is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Cal State Fullerton are $6,976 per year.

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Out of the 45 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Northridge landed the # 3 spot on the list. CSUN is a very large public school located in the city of Northridge.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at CSUN are $7,043 a year.

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend California State University - San Bernardino. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list. CSUSB is a large public school located in the city of San Bernardino.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at CSUSB are $7,213 a year.

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Out of the 45 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, San Jose State University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the large city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public college with a very large student population.

San Jose State undergraduate students pay an average of $7,852 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Education at San Jose State University

California State University - Bakersfield ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Bakersfield, CSUB is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at CSUB are $7,579 per year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - Bakersfield

#7

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco State University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California ranking. SFSU is a fairly large public school located in the city of San Francisco.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at SFSU are $7,304 per year.

Read full report on Education at San Francisco State University

California State University - Channel Islands ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Education Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the suburb of Camarillo, CSUCI is a public college with a moderately-sized student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at CSUCI are $6,817 per year.

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California State University - Los Angeles did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a bachelor’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list. Cal State LA is a very large public school located in the city of Los Angeles.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Cal State LA are $6,785 per year.

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California State University - Fresno did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a bachelor’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. Fresno State is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Fresno.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Fresno State are $6,653 per year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - Fresno

Best Value Education Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Education Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 5,206
Oregon 4,001
Hawaii 830
Nevada 1,387
Alaska 331

Education Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Teacher Education Grade Specific 110,226
Educational Administration 46,469
Teacher Education Subject Specific 43,297
Special Education 36,792
General Education 29,810
Curriculum & Instruction 19,832
Student Counseling 13,858
Instructional Media Design 8,695
Teaching English or French 5,791
Other Education 4,858
Teaching Assistants 2,751
Educational Assessment 2,552
Multilingual Education 1,910
Education Philosophy 737
International Education 293

Related Major Annual Graduates
Social Sciences 205,984
Psychology 195,678
Communication & Journalism 120,571
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences 55,820
History 32,731

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 schools only.

  • 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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Horadrim.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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