2023 Best Value Education Schools in California
Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices
Finding the Best Education 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.
Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Value Education Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 62 schools in California to see which 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.
Top 10 Best Education Schools
Our analysis found Concordia University, Irvine to be the best value school for education students who want to pursue a degree in California. Located in the city of Irvine, Concordia University, Irvine is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.
Concordia University, Irvine undergraduate students pay an average of $38,740 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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A rank of #2 on this year’s list means California State University - Sacramento is a great value for education students. Sac State is a fairly large public school located in the city of Sacramento.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Sac State are $7,392 per year. After completing their degree, education graduates from Sac State carry an average student debtload of $20,450.
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Out of the 62 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Fullerton landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the large suburb of Fullerton, Cal State Fullerton is a public school with a fairly large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Cal State Fullerton are $6,976 a year. Education majors at Cal State Fullerton take out an average of $16,732 in student loans while working on their egree.
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Out of the 62 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Northridge landed the # 4 spot on the list. CSUN is a very large public school located in the large city of Northridge.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at CSUN are $7,043 a year.
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The excellent programs at California State University - Long Beach helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best education schools in California. Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public school with a very large student population.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at CSULB are $6,846 per year.
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California State University - San Bernardino landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value education programs. CSUSB is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized city of San Bernardino.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at CSUSB are $7,213 a year. On average, education graduates from CSUSB take out $12,129 in student loans while working on their degree.
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San Jose State University ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Education Schools in California list. Located in the large city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public college with a fairly large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at San Jose State are $7,852 a year.
In addition to its great value ranking, San Jose State is in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Education Schools in California list.
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California State University - Bakersfield ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Education Schools in California list. Located in the city of Bakersfield, CSUB is a public school with a fairly large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at CSUB are $7,579 a year.
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California State University - Los Angeles ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Education Schools in California list. Cal State LA is a fairly 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. On average, education graduates from Cal State LA take out $13,000 in student loans while working on their degree.
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California State University - East Bay ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Education Schools in California list. Cal State East Bay is a large public school located in the large suburb of Hayward.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Cal State East Bay are $6,995 a year.
Request InformationAdditional Noteworthy Schools
These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Value Education Schools in California award.
| Rank | College | Location |
|---|---|---|
| 11 | California State University - Fresno | Fresno, CA |
| 12 | University of California - Santa Cruz | Santa Cruz, CA |
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 |
More Education Rankings in California
Education Related Majors for Education
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 |
Most Popular Majors Related to Education
| 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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