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Best Value Music Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Music Bachelor's Degree Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

42 Colleges
$8,821 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$26,068 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Music Bachelor's Degree School for You

With 3,457 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, music is the #35 most popular major in California.

With all the programs available today, it can be tough to choose which one is the best for you. 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 assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Course Advisor has created its Best Value Music Bachelor's Degree Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 42 schools in California to see which bachelor's degree programs offered the best value experiences for music students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

Our ranking of value is based on the quality of a program as defined in our per sticker price dollar. 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.

In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

2023 Best Value Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for music majors pursuing a bachelor's degree.

Top 10 Best Music Bachelor's Degree Schools

Our analysis found California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo to be the best value school for music students who want to pursue a bachelor’s degree in California. Located in the small suburb of San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a public school with a very large student population.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo undergraduate students pay an average of $10,195 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo also did well on our Best Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Read full report on Music at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

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 Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the large city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public college with a fairly large student population.

San Jose State undergraduate students pay an average of $7,852 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Music at San Jose State University Report

The excellent bachelor’s degree programs at California State University - East Bay helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value music schools in California. Cal State East Bay is a large public school located in the suburb of Hayward.

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

Read More…

#4

Sonoma State University

Rohnert Park, CA

A rank of #4 on this year’s list means Sonoma State University is a great value for music students working on their bachelor’s degree. Located in the suburb of Rohnert Park, SSU is a public school with a moderately-sized student population.

SSU undergraduate students pay an average of $7,988 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Music at Sonoma State University

#5

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA

The excellent bachelor’s degree programs at San Francisco State University helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value music schools in California. SFSU is a fairly large public school located in the large city of San Francisco.

SFSU undergraduate students pay an average of $7,304 in in-state tuition and fees each year. On average, music graduates from SFSU take out $20,582 in student loans while working on their Bachelor's Degree.

Read More…

California State University - Fresno did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for music students to get a bachelor’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Fresno State is a very large public school located in the city of Fresno.

Fresno State undergraduate students pay an average of $6,653 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Music at California State University - Fresno

With a ranking of #7, California State University - Long Beach did quite well on this year’s best value schools for music students working on their bachelor’s degree. Located in the city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public college with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at CSULB are $6,846 per year. Music majors at CSULB take out an average of $19,212 in student loans while working on their Bachelor's Degree.

Full Music at California State University - Long Beach Report

With a ranking of #8, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona did quite well on this year’s best value schools for music students working on their bachelor’s degree. Cal Poly Pomona is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Pomona.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Cal Poly Pomona are $7,439 per year.

Full Music at California State Polytechnic University - Pomona Report

California State University - San Bernardino came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Music Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California ranking. CSUSB is a 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 Music at California State University - San Bernardino Report

California State University - San Marcos landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value bachelor’s degree music programs. CSUSM is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of San Marcos.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at CSUSM are $7,727 a year.

Read More…

Best Value Music Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Music Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 320
Oregon 299
Nevada 94
Hawaii 31
Alaska 12

One of 10 majors within the area of study, music has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts 37,413
Design & Applied Arts 36,301
Drama & Theater Arts 17,341
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 16,778
General Visual & Performing Arts 6,355

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).

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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