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

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. 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 Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

Engineering Science is the 208th most popular major in the country with 1,668 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, engineering science graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $60,800 and had an average of $20,111 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 119 engineering science graduates with average earnings and debt of $39,100 and $18,476 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 68 engineering science graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in engineering science. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great engineering 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 engineering science program at the school. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank Engineering Science 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 Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” list to help you make the college 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. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

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

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Engineering Science in California

#1

California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

San Luis Obispo, California

#2 in overall quality

$21,595 Average Net Price

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 Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. This large school is located in San Luis Obispo, California, and it awarded 18 bachelors’s engineering science degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Engineering Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $21,595 for California Bachelor’s Degree Engineering Science students per year to attend California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo.

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 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 more about Engineering Science at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

#2

University of California - Berkeley

Berkeley, California

#1 in overall quality

$15,329 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of California - Berkeley. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. Located in Berkeley, California, this large public school awarded 17 degrees to qualified bachelors’s engineering science students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree engineering science students list, UC Berkeley has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Engineering Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for University of California - Berkeley is $15,329 for california bachelor’s degree engineering science students.

With a freshman retention rate of 96%, 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 more about Engineering Science at UC Berkeley

#3

California State University - Bakersfield

Bakersfield, California

#3 in overall quality

$5,318 Average Net Price

$56,234 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Bakersfield. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Engineering Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. California State University - Bakersfield is a fairly large school located in Bakersfield, California that handed out 33 bachelors’s engineering science degrees in 2019-2020.

CSUB also took the #3 spot in our “Best Engineering Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $5,318 for california bachelor’s degree engineering science students per year to attend California State University - Bakersfield.

Full CSUB Engineering Science Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Engineering Science in the Far Western US Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Engineering Science

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 Nicolás Pérez.

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