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Best Value Materials Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

2023 Best Value Materials Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

8 Colleges
$17,913 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$64,953 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Materials Engineering Bachelor's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 497 degrees and certificates were awarded to materials engineering students who went to a California college or university. This makes it the #125 most popular major in the state.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. 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.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Materials Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 8 schools in California to see which bachelor's degree programs offered the best value experiences for materials engineering 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. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality for a Bachelor's in Materials Engineering

Our analysis found California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo to be the best value school for materials engineering students who want to pursue a bachelor’s degree in California. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a very large public school located in the suburb of San Luis Obispo.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are $10,195 a year. On average, materials engineering graduates from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo take out $17,134 in student loans while working on their Bachelor's Degree.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo also claimed a spot on our Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.

Full Materials Engineering at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo Report

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend San Jose State University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list. San Jose State is a very large public school located in the city of San Jose.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at San Jose State are $7,852 a year.

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A rank of #3 on this year’s list means University of California - Los Angeles is a great value for materials engineering students working on their bachelor’s degree. UCLA is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

UCLA undergraduate students pay an average of $13,258 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

UCLA excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list.

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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means University of California - Davis is a great value for materials engineering students working on their bachelor’s degree. UC Davis is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Davis.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UC Davis are $14,645 a year.

UC Davis excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list.

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Out of the 8 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Irvine landed the # 5 spot on the list. UC Irvine is a fairly large public school located in the city of Irvine.

UC Irvine undergraduate students pay an average of $13,775 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Materials Engineering at University of California - Irvine

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University of California - Riverside came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California ranking. UCR is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Riverside.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UCR are $13,754 a year.

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With a ranking of #7, University of California - Merced did quite well on this year’s best value schools for materials engineering students working on their bachelor’s degree. Located in the rural area of Merced, UC Merced is a public school with a medium-sized student population.

UC Merced undergraduate students pay an average of $13,657 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Materials Engineering at University of California - Merced Report

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#8

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

With a ranking of #8, Stanford University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for materials engineering students working on their bachelor’s degree. Located in the large suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Stanford undergraduate students pay an average of $56,169 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Stanford also took the #3 spot in our Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California rankings.

Full Materials Engineering at Stanford University Report

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Best Value Materials Engineering Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 135
Oregon 14
Nevada 16

Materials Engineering is one of 40 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Mechanical Engineering 46,178
Electrical Engineering 28,844
Civil Engineering 21,388
Computer Engineering 17,987
Chemical Engineering 12,917

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 8 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 Panoramedia.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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