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Best Value Computer Science Doctor's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Computer Science Doctor's Degree Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

9 Colleges
$28,541 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$112,216 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Computer Science Doctor's Degree School for You

Computer Science is the most popular major in California with 13,148 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021.

It's not easy to decide which computer science program to enroll in when you have so many options available. 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 Computer Science Doctor's Degree Schools in California ranking is one of many tools that Computer Science Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 9 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value doctor's degree programs for compsci students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

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

In our regional and nationwide rankings, out-of-state tution and fees are used in our calculations. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools in California

Check out the compsci doctor's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality for a Doctorate in Computer Science

Our 2023 rankings named University of California - Berkeley the best value school in California for computer science students working on their doctor’s degree. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Berkeley.

UC Berkeley graduate students pay an average of $14,160 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

UC Berkeley also made our Best Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list, coming in at #3.

Full Computer Science at University of California - Berkeley Report

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means University of California - San Diego is a great value for computer science students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public college with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UCSD are $13,564 per year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, UCSD is ranked #4 for overall quality for compsci in California.

Full Computer Science at University of California - San Diego Report

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means University of California - Santa Barbara is a great value for computer science students working on their doctor’s degree. UCSB is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized suburb of Santa Barbara.

UCSB graduate students pay an average of $13,581 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

UCSB did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our Best Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list.

Full Computer Science at University of California - Santa Barbara Report

The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of California - Irvine helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value computer science schools in California. UC Irvine is a fairly large public school located in the city of Irvine.

UC Irvine graduate students pay an average of $13,356 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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The excellent doctor’s degree programs at University of California - Riverside helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value computer science schools in California. UCR is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Riverside.

UCR graduate students pay an average of $13,467 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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University of California - Santa Cruz ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the city of Santa Cruz, UC Santa Cruz is a public school with a large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UC Santa Cruz are $13,895 per year.

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California Institute of Technology came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools in California ranking. Located in the midsize city of Pasadena, Caltech is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Caltech are $58,443 a year.

Caltech did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our Best Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list.

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#7

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

Stanford University came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools in California ranking. Located in the suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

Stanford graduate students pay an average of $55,011 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Stanford also made our Best Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list, coming in at #2.

Full Computer Science at Stanford University Report

University of Southern California came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Computer Science Doctor’s Degree Schools in California ranking. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

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

Read full report on Computer Science at University of Southern California

Best Value Computer Science Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 1,551
Oregon 1,282
Nevada 152
Hawaii 152
Alaska 31

Computer Science is one of 10 different types of computer science programs to choose from.

CompSci Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
Computer Science 59,565

Majors Similar to CompSci

Related Major Annual Graduates
Computer Information Systems 88,434
Information Technology 40,555
Information Science 18,325
Computer Systems Networking 14,700
Computer Software & Applications 14,336

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 9 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 Negative Space.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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