2022 Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

In 2019-2020, 3,585 people earned their degree in biotechnology, making the major the 171st most popular in the United States. In 2017-2018, biotechnology graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $50,092 and had an average of $32,815 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 246 biotechnology graduates with average earnings and debt of $51,667 and $25,718 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 127 biotechnology graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in biotechnology. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great biotechnology programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the biotechnology program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k” list to help you make the college decision.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.

Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Biotechnology (Income $0-$30k) in California

#1

University of California - Davis

Davis, California

#1 in overall quality

$9,842 Average Net Price

$44,837 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Davis landed the #1 spot on the list. Davis, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s biotech degrees to 56 students in 2019-2020.

UC Davis also made our “Best Biotechnology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #1. The estimated yearly cost for UC Davis is $9,842 for California Bachelor’s Degree Biotech students whose families make $0-$30k.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Biotechnology at UC Davis

#2

California State Polytechnic University - Pomona

Pomona, California

#2 in overall quality

$8,596 Average Net Price

$41,565 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend California State Polytechnic University - Pomona. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k. Pomona, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s biotech degrees to 41 students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Cal Poly Pomona, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Biotechnology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $8,596 for California Bachelor’s Degree Biotech students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend California State Polytechnic University - Pomona.

With a freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its 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%.

Read full report on Biotechnology at California State Polytechnic University - Pomona

#3

California State University - San Marcos

San Marcos, California

#3 in overall quality

$9,517 Average Net Price

$45,500 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend California State University - San Marcos. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Biotech Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k. This fairly large school is located in San Marcos, California, and it awarded 30 bachelors’s biotech degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at CSUSM, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Biotechnology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend CSUSM is $9,517 for california bachelor’s degree biotech students whose families make $0-$30k.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 4.2%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Biotechnology at CSUSM

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Biotechnology (Income $0-$30k) in the Far Western US Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Biotechnology (Income $0-$30k)

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.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to Henk Caspers/Naturalis Biodiversity Center.

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