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Best Value Materials Sciences Schools in California

2023 Best Value Materials Sciences Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

4 Colleges
$13,914 Avg Tuition & Fees*

Finding the Best Materials Sciences School for You

With 136 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, materials sciences is the #205 most popular major in California.

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

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Materials Sciences Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 4 schools in California to see which programs offered the best value experiences for materials science 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 in Materials Sciences

$14,417 Average Tuition & Fees

Our analysis found University of California - Santa Barbara to be the best value school for materials sciences students who want to pursue a degree in California. UCSB is a fairly large public school located in the midsize suburb of Santa Barbara.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UCSB are $14,417 a year.

UCSB also claimed a spot on our Best Materials Sciences Schools in California list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.

Read full report on Materials Sciences at University of California - Santa Barbara

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$14,226 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 4 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Berkeley landed the # 2 spot on the list. UC Berkeley is a very large public school located in the city of Berkeley.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UC Berkeley are $14,226 a year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, UC Berkeley is ranked #3 for overall quality for materials science in California.

Read full report on Materials Sciences at University of California - Berkeley

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$13,258 Average Tuition & Fees

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

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

On top of its placing in our value ranking, UCLA also did well on our Best Materials Sciences Schools in California list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Read full report on Materials Sciences at University of California - Los Angeles

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$13,754 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at University of California - Riverside helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best materials sciences schools in California. UCR is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Riverside.

UCR undergraduate students pay an average of $13,754 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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Best Value Materials Sciences Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 0
Oregon 7

One of 8 majors within the area of study, materials sciences has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Chemistry 21,239
Physics 13,674
Geological & Earth Sciences 7,821
General Physical Sciences 3,823
Astronomy & Astrophysics 1,375

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 4 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 Per Henning.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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