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Best Value Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

2023 Best Value Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

30 Colleges
$15,924 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$64,721 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Engineering Bachelor's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, engineering students earned 25,076 degrees and certificates from a California school, making the subject the 8th in the state.

It's not easy to decide which program to enroll in when you have so many options available. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Value Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 30 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value bachelor's degree programs for engineering students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. 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.

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

Top 10 Best Engineering Bachelor's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo the best value school in California for engineering students working on their bachelor’s degree. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a very large public school located in the small suburb of San Luis Obispo.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo undergraduate students pay an average of $10,195 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo also did well on our Best Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

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Out of the 30 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the suburb of Pomona, Cal Poly Pomona is a public college with a very large student population.

Cal Poly Pomona undergraduate students pay an average of $7,439 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 - Chico. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list. Chico State is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Chico.

Chico State undergraduate students pay an average of $7,864 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means San Jose State University is a great value for engineering students working on their bachelor’s degree. San Jose State is a fairly large public school located in the large city of San Jose.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at San Jose State are $7,852 per year.

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Out of the 30 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Long Beach landed the # 5 spot on the list. CSULB is a very large public school located in the large city of Long Beach.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at CSULB are $6,846 a year.

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#6

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA

San Diego State University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value bachelor’s degree engineering programs. Located in the city of San Diego, SDSU is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at SDSU are $8,136 a year.

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California State University - Fresno landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value bachelor’s degree engineering programs. Located in the large city of Fresno, Fresno State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Fresno State are $6,653 a year.

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California State University - Sacramento came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California ranking. Located in the large city of Sacramento, Sac State is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Sac State are $7,392 a year.

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University of California - Berkeley ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list. UC Berkeley is a very large public school located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UC Berkeley are $14,226 per year.

In addition to its great value ranking, UC Berkeley is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list.

Full Engineering at University of California - Berkeley Report

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#10

National University

La Jolla, CA

With a ranking of #10, National University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for engineering students working on their bachelor’s degree. Located in the large city of La Jolla, National University is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at National University are $13,320 per year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, National University also did well on our Best Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

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Best Value Engineering Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 3,545
Oregon 2,281
Hawaii 301
Nevada 900
Alaska 178

Engineering Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Mechanical Engineering 46,178
Electrical Engineering 28,844
Civil Engineering 21,388
Computer Engineering 17,987
Chemical Engineering 12,917
Biomedical Engineering 12,811
General Engineering 11,796
Industrial Engineering 9,072
Aerospace & Aeronautical Engineering 8,001
Systems Engineering 3,904
Materials Engineering 3,415
Other Engineering 2,760
Environmental Engineering 2,759
Operations Research 1,698
Agricultural Engineering 1,472
Engineering Science 1,454
Electrical and Computer Engineering. 1,378
Petroleum Engineering 1,256
Robotics Engineering 1,243
Architectural Engineering 1,012
Engineering Physics 994
Manufacturing Engineering 947
Construction Engineering 878
Nuclear Engineering 864
Marine Engineering 445
Biological Engineering 410
Polymer & Plastics Engineering 360
Geoscience Engineering 325
Mining Engineering 314
Textile Engineering 310
Ocean Engineering 285
Engineering Mechanics 272
Metallurgical Engineering 179
Energy Systems Engineering 138
Biochemical Engineering 109
Ceramic Engineering 94
Surveying Engineering 73
Electromechanical Engineering 45
Forest Engineering 41
Paper Science & Engineering 27
Engineering Chemistry 13

Related Major Annual Graduates
Computer & Information Sciences 254,454
Biological & Biomedical Sciences 177,778
Engineering Technologies 85,188
Mathematics & Statistics 52,396
Physical Sciences 50,306

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 26 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 Petty Officer 3rd Class Declan Barnes.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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