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Best Value Engineering Graduate Certificate Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Engineering Graduate Certificate Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

6 Colleges
$27,802 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$80,505 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Engineering Graduate Certificate 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 Graduate Certificate Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 6 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value graduate certificate 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.

2023 Best Value Engineering Graduate Certificate Schools in California

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for engineering majors pursuing a graduate certificate.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality for a Postbaccalaureate Certificates in Engineering

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

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at San Jose State are $9,286 per year.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Engineering Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a very large public school located in the suburb of San Luis Obispo.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo graduate students pay an average of $11,629 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 Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

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

#3

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means San Diego State University is a great value for engineering students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the large city of San Diego, SDSU is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at SDSU are $9,570 a year.

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#4

Loyola Marymount University

Los Angeles, CA

Out of the 6 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Loyola Marymount University landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the city of Los Angeles, Loyola Marymount is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Loyola Marymount are $19,922 per year.

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#5

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Stanford University. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Engineering Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Located in the suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Stanford graduate students pay an average of $55,011 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Stanford also claimed a spot on our Best Engineering Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.

Read full report on Engineering at Stanford University

University of Southern California came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Engineering Graduate Certificate Schools in California ranking. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at USC are $61,396 a year.

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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 6 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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