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Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

31 Colleges
$14,295 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$61,137 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Education Graduate Certificate 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 Graduate Certificate Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 31 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value graduate certificate programs for education students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

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 Graduate Certificate Schools in California

Check out the education graduate certificate programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools

Our analysis found California State University - Sacramento to be the best value school for education students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in California. Sac State is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Sacramento.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Sac State are $8,826 per year.

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Out of the 31 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Long Beach landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public school with a fairly large student population.

CSULB graduate students pay an average of $8,280 in in-state tuition and fees each 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 #3 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. CSUSB is a large public school located in the medium-sized city of San Bernardino.

CSUSB graduate students pay an average of $8,647 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Los Angeles. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Cal State LA is a very large public school located in the city of Los Angeles.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Cal State LA are $8,219 a year.

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A rank of #5 on this year’s list means California State University - Fresno is a great value for education students working on their graduate certificate. Fresno State is a very large public school located in the large city of Fresno.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Fresno State are $8,087 a year.

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#6

Brandman University

Irvine, CA

Brandman University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Located in the city of Irvine, Brandman is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

Brandman graduate students pay an average of $12,720 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Brandman also claimed a spot on our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools in this category.

Read full report on Education at Brandman University

San Jose State University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #7 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 graduate students pay an average of $9,286 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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California State University - Northridge did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a graduate certificate. It came in at #8 on the list. CSUN is a very large public school located in the city of Northridge.

CSUN graduate students pay an average of $8,477 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - Northridge

#9

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco State University ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. SFSU is a fairly large public school located in the large city of San Francisco.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at SFSU are $8,738 a year.

Full Education at San Francisco State University Report

University of California - Irvine landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value graduate certificate education programs. Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UC Irvine are $13,356 per year.

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Best Value Education Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Education Schools 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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