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Best Value Public & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

31 Colleges
$11,167 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$33,749 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor's Degree School for You

With 8,979 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, public administration and social service is the #16 most popular major in California.

When it comes to higher education, there are a lot of options for students. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

The Best Value Public & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools in California ranking is one of many tools that Course Advisor has developed to help you make your educational decision. Our analysis looked at 31 schools in California to see which bachelor's degree programs offered the best value experiences for public administration and social service 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. 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 Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Colleges.

Top 10 Best Public Administration & Social Service Bachelor's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named California State University - Northridge the best value school in California for public administration and social service students working on their bachelor’s degree. CSUN is a very large public school located in the large city of Northridge.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at CSUN are $7,043 per year.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at California State University - Northridge

The excellent bachelor’s degree programs at California State University - East Bay helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best value public administration and social service schools in California. Cal State East Bay is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Hayward.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Cal State East Bay are $6,995 per year.

Read More…

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend San Jose State University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the large city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at San Jose State are $7,852 a year.

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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means California State University - Fresno is a great value for public administration and social service students working on their bachelor’s degree. Fresno State is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Fresno.

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

Full Public Administration & Social Service at California State University - Fresno Report

Out of the 31 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - San Bernardino landed the # 4 spot on the list. CSUSB is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of San Bernardino.

CSUSB undergraduate students pay an average of $7,213 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at California State University - San Bernardino Report

California State University - Los Angeles did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public administration and social service students to get a bachelor’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Cal State LA is a very large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Cal State LA are $6,785 a year.

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California State University - Long Beach landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value bachelor’s degree public administration and social service programs. Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public school with a fairly large student population.

CSULB undergraduate students pay an average of $6,846 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at California State University - Long Beach

California State University - Monterey Bay ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list. CSUMB is a moderately-sized public school located in the suburb of Seaside.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at CSUMB are $7,218 per year.

Read More…

California State University - Sacramento did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for public administration and social service students to get a bachelor’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list. Sac State is a very large public school located in the large city of Sacramento.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Sac State are $7,392 per year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at California State University - Sacramento Report

California State University - Bakersfield ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Bakersfield, CSUB is a public school with a fairly large student population.

CSUB undergraduate students pay an average of $7,579 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Public Administration & Social Service at California State University - Bakersfield

Best Value Public Administration & Social Service Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Public Administration & Social Service Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 1,252
Oregon 832
Hawaii 396
Nevada 610
Alaska 121

Public Administration & Social Service Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Social Work 58,326
Public Administration 16,905
Human Services 13,238
Public Policy 6,430
Community Organization & Advocacy 3,096
Other Public Administration 588

Related Major Annual Graduates
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement & Firefighting 142,610
Parks, Recreation, Leisure, & Fitness Studies 73,813
Legal Professions 61,055
Military Technologies & Applied Sciences 4,477

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 University of the Fraser Valley.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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