2023 Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California
Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing
Finding the Best General Visual & Performing Arts School for You
In 2020-2021, 1,179 degrees and certificates were awarded to general visual and performing arts students who went to a California college or university. This makes it the #84 most popular major in the state.
Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. 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.
The Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts 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 15 schools in California to see which programs offered the best value experiences for visual arts 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. 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.
Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.
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2023 Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California
The following schools top our list of the Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Colleges.
Top 10 Best General Visual & Performing Arts Schools
Our 2023 rankings named San Diego Mesa College the best value school in California for general visual and performing arts students. San Diego Mesa College is a large public school located in the city of San Diego.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at San Diego Mesa College are $1,144 a year.
Full General Visual & Performing Arts at San Diego Mesa College Report
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend San Jose State University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California list. San Jose State is a fairly large public school located in the city of San Jose.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at San Jose State are $7,852 a year.
San Jose State excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California list.
Full General Visual & Performing Arts at San Jose State University Report
Out of the 15 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Channel Islands landed the # 3 spot on the list. CSUCI is a moderately-sized public school located in the midsize suburb of Camarillo.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at CSUCI are $6,817 per year.
Full General Visual & Performing Arts at California State University - Channel Islands Report
The excellent programs at California State University - San Marcos helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best general visual and performing arts schools in California. Located in the large suburb of San Marcos, CSUSM is a public college with a fairly large student population.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at CSUSM are $7,727 a year. The average amount in student loans that visual arts majors at CSUSM take out is $15,000.
Read full report on General Visual & Performing Arts at California State University - San Marcos
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Los Angeles. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California list. Located in the city of Los Angeles, Cal State LA is a public college with a very large student population.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Cal State LA are $6,785 per year.
Gnomon did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for general visual and performing arts students. It came in at #6 on the list. Gnomon is a fairly small private for-profit school located in the city of Hollywood.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Gnomon are $28,155 a year.
University of California - San Diego ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California list. Located in the large city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public school with a fairly large student population.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UCSD are $14,700 per year. Visual Arts majors at UCSD take out an average of $16,250 in student loans while working on their egree.
As a testament to the quality of education it offers, UCSD also is in the top 20% of our Best General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California ranking.
University of California - Riverside came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California ranking. UCR is a very large public school located in the city of Riverside.
UCR undergraduate students pay an average of $13,754 in in-state tuition and fees each year.
Academy of Art University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California ranking. Located in the city of San Francisco, Academy of Art University is a private for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.
The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Academy of Art University are $25,424 a year. The average amount in student loans that visual arts majors at Academy of Art University take out is $35,875.
Full General Visual & Performing Arts at Academy of Art University Report
Columbia College Hollywood landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value general visual and performing arts programs. Located in the large city of Tarzana, Columbia College Hollywood is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly small student population.
In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Columbia College Hollywood are $26,175 per year.
Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Colleges in the Far Western US Region
Explore all the Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.
| State | Degrees Awarded |
|---|---|
| Washington | 13 |
| Oregon | 66 |
| Nevada | 20 |
More General Visual & Performing Arts Rankings in California
Majors Related to Visual Arts
One of 10 majors within the area of study, general visual and performing arts has other similar majors worth exploring.
Majors Similar to Visual Arts
| 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 15 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 Sven Mandel / CC-BY-SA-4.0.
More about our data sources and methodologies.
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