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Best Value Computer Science Master's Degree Schools in California

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

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

27 Colleges
$12,598 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$99,796 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Computer Science Master'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 Master'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 27 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value master'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 Master’s Degree Schools in California

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

Top 10 Best Computer Science Master's Degree Schools

Our analysis found University of California - Berkeley to be the best value school for computer science students who want to pursue a master’s degree in California. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public school located in the 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 Master’s Degree Schools in California list, coming in at #2.

Read full report on Computer Science at University of California - Berkeley

Out of the 27 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo landed the # 2 spot on the list. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of San Luis Obispo.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are $11,629 a year.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our Best Computer Science Master’s Degree Schools in California list.

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

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - San Diego. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Computer Science Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public college with a very large student population.

UCSD graduate students pay an average of $13,564 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

UCSD not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #3 on our Best Computer Science Master’s Degree Schools in California list.

Read full report on Computer Science at University of California - San Diego

Out of the 27 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Channel Islands landed the # 4 spot on the list. CSUCI is a medium-sized public school located in the midsize suburb of Camarillo.

CSUCI graduate students pay an average of $8,251 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Computer Science at California State University - Channel Islands Report

The excellent master’s degree programs at California State University - Long Beach helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value computer science schools in California. CSULB is a very large public school located in the city of Long Beach.

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

Read full report on Computer Science at California State University - Long Beach

University of California - Santa Barbara ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Computer Science Master’s Degree Schools in California list. UCSB is a very large public school located in the medium-sized suburb of Santa Barbara.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UCSB are $13,581 a year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, UCSB also did well on our Best Computer Science Master’s Degree Schools in California list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Full Computer Science at University of California - Santa Barbara Report

With a ranking of #7, California State University - Chico did quite well on this year’s best value schools for computer science students working on their master’s degree. Chico State is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Chico.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Chico State are $9,298 a year.

Read More…

California State Polytechnic University - Pomona ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Computer Science Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the suburb of Pomona, Cal Poly Pomona is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Cal Poly Pomona are $8,873 a year.

Full Computer Science at California State Polytechnic University - Pomona Report

With a ranking of #9, San Jose State University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for computer science students working on their master’s degree. San Jose State is a very large public school located in the large city of San Jose.

San Jose State graduate students pay an average of $9,286 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

#10

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA

San Diego State University ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Computer Science Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the city of San Diego, SDSU is a public college with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at SDSU are $9,570 per year.

Read full report on Computer Science at San Diego State University

Best Value Computer Science Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Computer Science Colleges 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 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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Negative Space.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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