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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Software Engineering in California

4 Ranked Colleges
260 Degrees Awarded
$19,000 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Computer Software Engineering Schools for a Bachelor's in California

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Computer Software Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Software Engineering is the 195th most popular major in the country with 3,874 degrees awarded in 2019-2020.

Across California, there were 855 software engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 260 software engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Computer Software Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking, we looked at 4 colleges that offer a degree in software engineering. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great software engineering programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the software engineering program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Software Engineering Schools

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 Computer Software Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” list to help you make the college decision.

To further help you make the college decision, we’ve developed a unique tool called College Combat that allows you to compare schools based on the factors that matter the most to you. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Computer Software Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Computer Software Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California.

Top 4 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Software Engineering in California

#1 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Computer Software Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a large school located in San Luis Obispo, California that handed out 61 bachelors’s computer software engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Software Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $21,595 for california bachelor’s degree computer software engineering students per year to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%. The low student loan default rate of 1.1% 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 Software Engineering at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

#2

San Jose State University

San Jose, California
#3 in overall quality

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Computer Software Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, San Jose State University landed the #2 spot on the list. San Jose State University is a large school located in San Jose, California that handed out 130 bachelors’s computer software engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

San Jose State also made our “Best Software Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #3. It costs about $14,928 for California Bachelor’s Degree Computer Software Engineering students per year to attend San Jose State University.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The student loan default rate at the school is 3.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full San Jose State University Software Engineering Report

#2 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of California - Irvine. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Computer Software Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. Located in Irvine, California, this large public school awarded 55 degrees to qualified bachelors’s computer software engineering students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UC Irvine, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Software Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $14,783 for California Bachelor’s Degree Computer Software Engineering students per year to attend UC Irvine.

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 1.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full University of California - Irvine Software Engineering Report

#4

California Baptist University

Riverside, California
#4 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend California Baptist University. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Computer Software Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. California Baptist University is located in Riverside, California and, has a fairly large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 5 bachelors’s computer software engineering degrees to qualified students.

Cal Baptist did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Software Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend California Baptist University is $24,707 for california bachelor’s degree computer software engineering students.

The low student loan default rate of 4.6% 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 more about Software Engineering at California Baptist University

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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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