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

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

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

6 Colleges
$24,748 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$69,877 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Public Administration & Social Service Doctor'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.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Value Public & Social Service Doctor's Degree Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 6 schools in California to see which doctor'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.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality for a Doctorate in Public & Social Service

Our 2023 rankings named University of California - Berkeley the best value school in California for public administration and social service students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public college with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UC Berkeley are $14,160 per year.

UC Berkeley also took the #3 spot in our Best Public & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in California rankings.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at University of California - Berkeley Report

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Out of the 6 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Los Angeles landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public college with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UCLA are $13,036 per year.

UCLA excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Public & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California Baptist University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Riverside, Cal Baptist is a private not-for-profit college with a large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Cal Baptist are $14,320 per year.

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#4

University of La Verne

La Verne, CA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of La Verne. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Public & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the suburb of La Verne, ULV is a private not-for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

ULV graduate students pay an average of $14,520 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Public Administration & Social Service at University of La Verne Report

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#5

Loma Linda University

Loma Linda, CA

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Loma Linda University. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Public & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the suburb of Loma Linda, Loma Linda University is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Loma Linda University are $31,058 a year.

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With a ranking of #6, University of Southern California did quite well on this year’s best value schools for public administration and social service students working on their doctor’s degree. USC is a fairly large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at USC are $61,396 per year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, USC also did well on our Best Public & Social Service Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

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

Explore all the Best Value Public Administration & Social Service Schools 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 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 University of the Fraser Valley.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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