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Best Value Psychology Master's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Psychology Master's Degree Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

74 Colleges
$9,722 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$45,565 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Psychology Master's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, psychology students earned 40,562 degrees and certificates from a California school, making the subject the 5th in the state.

There are so many programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one for you. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Course Advisor has created the Best Value Psychology Master's Degree Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 74 schools in California to see which master's degree programs offered the best value experiences for psychology students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

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. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Psychology Master’s Degree Schools in California

Check out the psychology master's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 15% Best Psychology Master's Degree Schools

#1

Touro University Worldwide

Los Alamitos, CA

Our analysis found Touro University Worldwide to be the best value school for psychology students who want to pursue a master’s degree in California. TUW is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Los Alamitos.

TUW graduate students pay an average of $9,000 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Psychology at Touro University Worldwide

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means California State University - Long Beach is a great value for psychology students working on their master’s degree. CSULB is a fairly large public school located in the city of Long Beach.

CSULB graduate students pay an average of $8,280 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means California State University - Fresno is a great value for psychology students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Fresno, Fresno State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Fresno State are $8,087 per year.

Full Psychology at California State University - Fresno Report

Out of the 74 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Northridge landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the city of Northridge, CSUN is a public school with a fairly large student population.

CSUN graduate students pay an average of $8,477 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Psychology at California State University - Northridge

#5

Brandman University

Irvine, CA

The excellent master’s degree programs at Brandman University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value psychology schools in California. Brandman is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Irvine.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Brandman are $12,720 a year.

Read More…

San Jose State University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Psychology Master’s Degree Schools in California list. San Jose State is a very large public school located in the large city of San Jose.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at San Jose State are $9,286 a year.

Read full report on Psychology at San Jose State University

With a ranking of #7, California State University - Sacramento did quite well on this year’s best value schools for psychology students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Sacramento, Sac State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Sac State are $8,826 a year.

Read More…

#8

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA

San Diego State University landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree psychology programs. Located in the large city of San Diego, SDSU is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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

Read full report on Psychology at San Diego State University

With a ranking of #9, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo did quite well on this year’s best value schools for psychology students working on their master’s degree. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a very large public school located in the small suburb of San Luis Obispo.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are $11,629 a year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo also is in the top 10% of our Best Psychology Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking.

Read More…

With a ranking of #10, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona did quite well on this year’s best value schools for psychology students working on their master’s degree. Located in the suburb of Pomona, Cal Poly Pomona is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Cal Poly Pomona graduate students pay an average of $8,873 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Psychology at California State Polytechnic University - Pomona Report

California State University - Fullerton came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Psychology Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking. Cal State Fullerton is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Fullerton.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Cal State Fullerton are $8,410 a year.

Read full report on Psychology at California State University - Fullerton

Honorable Mentions

These are some additional schools worth mentioning that are also great but just didn't quite make the cut to earn our top Best Value Psychology Master's Degree Schools in California award.

Rank College Location
12 San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA
13 Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, CA
14 California State University - Chico Chico, CA

Best Value Psychology Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 2,848
Oregon 2,071
Hawaii 511
Nevada 996
Alaska 133

Psychology Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
General Psychology 141,695
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology 33,758
Child Development & Psychology 17,542
Other Psychology 2,683

Related Major Annual Graduates
Education 327,871
Social Sciences 205,984
Communication & Journalism 120,571
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences 55,820
History 32,731

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 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 Nevit Dilmen.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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