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2022 Best Value Food Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

4 Ranked Colleges
200 Degrees Awarded
$13,600 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Food Sciences Schools for a Bachelor's in California

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. Our mission at College Factual is to arm you with as much information as we can to help you make that decision. Our “Best Value Food Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

In 2019-2020, 1,815 people earned their degree in food science, making the major the 283rd most popular in the United States.

Across California, there were 227 food science graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 200 food science graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Food Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking looked at 4 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in food science. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great food science programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the food science program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Food Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Food Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Food Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in California.

Top 4 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Food Science in California

#1 in overall quality

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Food Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo landed the #1 spot on the list. This large school is located in San Luis Obispo, California, and it awarded 36 bachelors’s food sciences degrees in 2019-2020.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Food Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The estimated yearly cost for Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is $21,595 for california bachelor’s degree food sciences students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student loan default rate at the school is 1.1%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

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

#4 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Fresno. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Food Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. California State University - Fresno is located in Fresno, California and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 53 bachelors’s food sciences degrees to qualified students.

Fresno State did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Food Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend Fresno State is $5,464 for california bachelor’s degree food sciences students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 87%. The student loan default rate at the school is 4.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Food Science at California State University - Fresno

#3 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State Polytechnic University - Pomona. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Food Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. Pomona, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s food sciences degrees to 30 students in 2019-2020.

Cal Poly Pomona did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Food Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend California State Polytechnic University - Pomona is $12,734 for California Bachelor’s Degree Food Sciences students.

The low student loan default rate of 1.7% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 87%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Food Science at Cal Poly Pomona

#2 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Davis. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Food Sciences Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. Davis, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s food sciences degrees to 81 students in 2019-2020.

UC Davis not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Food Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend University of California - Davis is $14,669 for california bachelor’s degree food sciences students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student loan default rate at the school is 1.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full University of California - Davis Food Science Report

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Notes and References

References

  • 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 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).
  • Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

  • *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
  • Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

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