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Best Value Information Science Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Information Science Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

4 Colleges
$33,161 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$86,271 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Information Science School for You

In 2020-2021, information science students earned 516 degrees and certificates from a California school, making the subject the 6th in the state.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which computer science program is right for you. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

The Best Value Information Science 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 4 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value programs for IS students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

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. 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.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

2023 Best Value Information Science Schools in California

Check out the IS programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality in Information Science

$14,226 Average Tuition & Fees

Our analysis found University of California - Berkeley to be the best value school for information science students who want to pursue a degree in California. Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UC Berkeley are $14,226 per year.

UC Berkeley also made our Best Information Science Schools in California list, coming in at #3.

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

$13,754 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 4 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Riverside landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the city of Riverside, UCR is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UCR are $13,754 a year.

Read full report on Information Science at University of California - Riverside

$58,680 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend California Institute of Technology. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Information Science Schools in California list. Caltech is a small private not-for-profit school located in the midsize city of Pasadena.

Caltech undergraduate students pay an average of $58,680 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, Caltech is ranked #1 for overall quality for IS in California.

Read More…

#4

California Lutheran University

Thousand Oaks, CA
$45,982 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend California Lutheran University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Information Science Schools in California list. CLU is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Thousand Oaks.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at CLU are $45,982 per year.

Read full report on Information Science at California Lutheran University

Best Value Information Science Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 214
Oregon 9
Nevada 0
Hawaii 12

One of 10 majors within the computer science area of study, information science has other similar majors worth exploring.

IS Concentrations

Major Annual Graduates
General Information Science 18,325

Related Major Annual Graduates
Computer Information Systems 88,434
Computer Science 59,565
Information Technology 40,555
Computer Systems Networking 14,700
Computer Software & Applications 14,336

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 4 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 The Opte Project.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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