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Best Value Education Master's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Education Master's Degree Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

57 Colleges
$9,783 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$49,367 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Education Master'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.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Value Education Master's Degree Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 57 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value master's degree 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 Master’s Degree Schools in California

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

Top 10 Best Education Master's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Concordia University, Irvine the best value school in California for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Irvine, Concordia University, Irvine is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Concordia University, Irvine are $8,564 a year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Concordia University, Irvine also is in the top 15% of our Best Education Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking.

Full Education at Concordia University, Irvine Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Long Beach. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Education Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public college with a very large student population.

CSULB graduate students pay an average of $8,280 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - Long Beach

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means California State University - Sacramento is a great value for education students working on their master’s degree. Sac State is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Sacramento.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Sac State are $8,826 a year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - Sacramento

Out of the 57 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Los Angeles landed the # 4 spot on the list. Cal State LA is a very large public school located in the city of Los Angeles.

Cal State LA graduate students pay an average of $8,219 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - Los Angeles

The excellent master’s degree programs at California State University - Fullerton helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value education schools in California. Located in the suburb of Fullerton, Cal State Fullerton is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Cal State Fullerton are $8,410 a year.

Read More…

California State University - San Bernardino did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. CSUSB is a large public school located in the city of San Bernardino.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at CSUSB are $8,647 per year.

Full Education at California State University - San Bernardino Report

With a ranking of #7, California State University - San Marcos did quite well on this year’s best value schools for education students working on their master’s degree. CSUSM is a large public school located in the suburb of San Marcos.

CSUSM graduate students pay an average of $9,161 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - San Marcos

California State University - Fresno ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Education Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Fresno State is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Fresno.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Fresno State are $8,087 per year.

Read More…

California State University - East Bay landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree education programs. Cal State East Bay is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Hayward.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Cal State East Bay are $8,429 per year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - East Bay

California State University - Northridge landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree education programs. CSUN is a fairly large public school located in the city of Northridge.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at CSUN are $8,477 per year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - Northridge

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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