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Best Value Liberal Arts & Humanities Master's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Liberal Arts & Humanities Master's Degree Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

8 Colleges
$10,539 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$46,931 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Master's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, liberal arts / sciences and humanities students earned 52,773 degrees and certificates from a California school, making the subject the 3rd in the state.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

The Best Value Liberal Arts & Humanities Master's Degree Schools in California ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 8 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for liberal arts / sciences and humanities students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Master’s Degree Schools in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Master's Degree Colleges.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality for a Master's in Liberal Arts & Humanities

#1

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA

Our 2023 rankings named San Francisco State University the best value school in California for liberal arts / sciences and humanities students working on their master’s degree. SFSU is a fairly large public school located in the city of San Francisco.

SFSU graduate students pay an average of $8,738 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities at San Francisco State University

Out of the 8 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Northridge landed the # 2 spot on the list. CSUN is a very large public school located in the large city of Northridge.

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

Read full report on Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities at California State University - Northridge

#3

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA

Out of the 8 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, San Diego State University landed the # 3 spot on the list. SDSU is a very large public school located in the city of San Diego.

SDSU graduate students pay an average of $9,570 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means California State University - Dominguez Hills is a great value for liberal arts / sciences and humanities students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Carson, CSUDH is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at CSUDH are $8,494 per year.

Full Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities at California State University - Dominguez Hills Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Sacramento. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Liberal Arts & Humanities Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Sac State is a very large public school located in the city of Sacramento.

Sac State graduate students pay an average of $8,826 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

#6

Mount Saint Mary's University

Los Angeles, CA

Mount Saint Mary’s University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Liberal Arts & Humanities Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking. MSMU is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.

MSMU graduate students pay an average of $13,099 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities at Mount Saint Mary’s University

Dominican University of California landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree liberal arts / sciences and humanities programs. DUofC is a small private not-for-profit school located in the small city of San Rafael.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at DUofC are $16,569 a year.

Read More…

With a ranking of #8, Saint Mary’s College of California did quite well on this year’s best value schools for liberal arts / sciences and humanities students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large suburb of Moraga, SMC is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

SMC graduate students pay an average of $33,357 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, SMC also is in the top 15% of our Best Liberal Arts & Humanities Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking.

Full Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities at Saint Mary’s College of California Report

Best Value Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 17,408
Oregon 8,599
Hawaii 2,024
Nevada 1,679
Alaska 417

Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Liberal Arts General Studies 556,813

Majors Similar to Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities

Related Major Annual Graduates
Visual & Performing Arts 149,215
English Language & Literature 54,635
Foreign Languages & Linguistics 33,333
Theology & Religious Vocations 27,459
Philosophy & Religious Studies 19,993

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 Jacques Sablet (Switzerland, Morges, 1749-1803).

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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