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Best Value Social Sciences Graduate Certificate Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Social Sciences Graduate Certificate Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

7 Colleges
$24,980 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$51,829 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Social Sciences Graduate Certificate School for You

Social Sciences is one of the most popular subjects to study in California. With 51,430 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, it ranked 4th out of all the majors we track in the state.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right 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.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Course Advisor has developed this Best Value Social Sciences Graduate Certificate Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 7 schools in California to see which graduate certificate programs offered the best value experiences for social sciences 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. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Social Sciences Graduate Certificate Schools in California

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for social sciences majors pursuing a graduate certificate.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality for a Postbaccalaureate Certificates in Social Sciences

Our analysis found San Jose State University to be the best value school for social sciences students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in California. Located in the large city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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

Read full report on Social Sciences at San Jose State University

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Long Beach. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Social Sciences Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at CSULB are $8,280 a year.

Read More…

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means California State University - Los Angeles is a great value for social sciences students working on their graduate certificate. Cal State LA is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Cal State LA are $8,219 a year.

Read full report on Social Sciences at California State University - Los Angeles

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means California State University - Dominguez Hills is a great value for social sciences students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of Carson, CSUDH is a public college with a fairly large student population.

CSUDH graduate students pay an average of $8,494 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Social Sciences at California State University - Dominguez Hills Report

Out of the 7 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Claremont Graduate University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Claremont Graduate University is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Claremont.

Claremont Graduate University graduate students pay an average of $36,380 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Claremont Graduate University also took the #5 spot in our Best Social Sciences Graduate Certificate Schools in California rankings.

Full Social Sciences at Claremont Graduate University Report

University of Southern California ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Social Sciences Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. USC is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

USC graduate students pay an average of $61,396 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Social Sciences at University of Southern California

Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Social Sciences Graduate Certificate Schools in California ranking. Middlebury Institute is a fairly small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Monterey.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Middlebury Institute are $42,804 a year.

Read More…

Best Value Social Sciences Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 3,812
Oregon 2,748
Hawaii 586
Nevada 925
Alaska 90

Social Sciences Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Political Science & Government 49,282
Economics 49,055
Sociology 38,475
General Social Sciences 18,997
International Relations & National Security 14,306
Anthropology 11,415
Criminology 11,039
Geography & Cartography 8,526
Other Social Sciences 2,414
Urban Studies 1,507
Sociology & Anthropology 541
Archeology 339
Demography & Population Studies 88

Related Major Annual Graduates
Education 327,871
Psychology 195,678
Communication & Journalism 120,571
Family, Consumer & Human Sciences 55,820
History 32,731

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 7 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 AndrГ© KГјnzelmann.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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