2023 Best Value Dance Schools in California
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
Finding the Best Dance School for You
In 2020-2021, 483 degrees and certificates were awarded to dance students who went to a California college or university. This makes it the #127 most popular major 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. 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 Dance Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 16 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value programs for dance students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.
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.
Top 10 Best Dance Schools
Our analysis found San Diego Mesa College to be the best value school for dance students who want to pursue a degree in California. San Diego Mesa College is a fairly large public school located in the city of San Diego.
San Diego Mesa College undergraduate students pay an average of $1,144 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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The excellent programs at San Jose State University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best dance schools in California. San Jose State is a fairly large public school located in the city of San Jose.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at San Jose State are $7,852 per year.
In addition to its great value ranking, San Jose State is in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Dance Schools in California list.
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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Fullerton. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Dance Schools in California list. Cal State Fullerton is a very large public school located in the large suburb of Fullerton.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Cal State Fullerton are $6,976 per year. While working on their degree, dance majors at Cal State Fullerton accumulate an average of around $22,769 in student debt.
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A rank of #4 on this year’s list means California State University - Long Beach is a great value for dance students. CSULB is a fairly large public school located in the city of Long Beach.
CSULB undergraduate students pay an average of $6,846 in in-state tuition and fees each year. On average, dance graduates from CSULB take out $18,750 in student loans while working on their degree.
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Out of the 16 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, San Francisco State University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the large city of San Francisco, SFSU is a public school with a very large student population.
SFSU undergraduate students pay an average of $7,304 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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San Diego State University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Dance Schools in California list. Located in the city of San Diego, SDSU is a public school with a fairly large student population.
SDSU undergraduate students pay an average of $8,136 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
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University of California - Berkeley came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Dance Schools in California ranking. UC Berkeley is a very large public school located in the city of Berkeley.
UC Berkeley undergraduate students pay an average of $14,226 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
UC Berkeley not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #3 on our Best Dance Schools in California list.
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University of California - Irvine came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Dance Schools in California ranking. UC Irvine is a very large public school located in the city of Irvine.
UC Irvine undergraduate students pay an average of $13,775 in in-state tuition and fees each year. After completing their degree, dance graduates from UC Irvine carry an average student debtload of $19,500.
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University of California - Santa Barbara ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Dance Schools in California list. UCSB is a very large public school located in the suburb of Santa Barbara.
UCSB undergraduate students pay an average of $14,417 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
On top of its placing in our value ranking, UCSB also did well on our Best Dance Schools in California list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.
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University of California - Riverside came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Dance Schools in California ranking. UCR is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Riverside.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UCR are $13,754 per year.
Request InformationBest Value Dance Colleges in the Far Western US Region
Explore all the Best Value Dance Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Washington | 53 |
| Oregon | 20 |
| Nevada | 30 |
| Hawaii | 4 |
More Dance Rankings in California
Majors Related to Dance
Dance is one of 10 different types of programs to choose from.
Most Popular Majors Related to Dance
| Related Major | Annual Graduates |
|---|---|
| Fine & Studio Arts | 37,413 |
| Design & Applied Arts | 36,301 |
| Music | 25,910 |
| Drama & Theater Arts | 17,341 |
| Film, Video & Photographic Arts | 16,778 |
Notes and References
*These averages are for the top 16 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 Jazzart Dance Theatre.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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