2022 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Environmental Engineering in California

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual has developed its “Best Value Environmental Engineering Schools for a Master’s in California” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Environmental Engineering is the 166th most popular major in the country with 2,802 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, environmental engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $52,600 and had an average of $23,573 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 332 environmental engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $51,675 and $22,465 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 65 environmental engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $60,281 and $50,119 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Environmental Engineering Schools for a Master’s in California” ranking looked at 4 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in environmental engineering. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent environmental engineering programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the environmental engineering program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Environmental Engineering Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Environmental Engineering Schools for a Master’s in California” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

In addition to College Factual’s rankings, you may want to take a look at College Combat, our unique tool that lets you pit your favorite schools head-to-head and compare how they rate on factors that most interest 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 Environmental Engineering Schools for a Master’s in California

The colleges and universities below are the best for california master’s degree environmental engineering students.

Top 4 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Environmental Engineering in California

#1

California State University - Fullerton

Fullerton, California

#3 in overall quality

$17,892 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

$76,930 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend California State University - Fullerton. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Environmental Engineering Schools for a Master’s in California. Fullerton, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out masters’s environmental engineering degrees to 32 students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california master’s degree environmental engineering students list, Cal State Fullerton has also earned the #3 rank in our “Best Environmental Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at Cal State Fullerton are $17,892.

Read more about Environmental Engineering at Cal State Fullerton

#2

University of California - Riverside

Riverside, California

#4 in overall quality

$28,686 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Environmental Engineering Schools for a Master’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Riverside landed the #2 spot on the list. University of California - Riverside is a public institution located in Riverside, California. The school has a large population, and it awarded 4 masters’s degrees in 2019-2020.

UCR did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Environmental Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California” list. Average graduate tuition and fees at University of California - Riverside are $28,686, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Read more about Environmental Engineering at UCR

#3

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California

#1 in overall quality

$48,715 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Environmental Engineering Schools for a Master’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Southern California landed the #3 spot on the list. Los Angeles, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out masters’s environmental engineering degrees to 22 students in 2019-2020.

USC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Environmental Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California” list. Although you might pay more or less depending on your area of study, average graduate tuition and fees at University of Southern California are $48,715.

Full USC Environmental Engineering Report

#4

California Institute of Technology

Pasadena, California

#2 in overall quality

$56,649 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend California Institute of Technology. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Environmental Engineering Schools for a Master’s in California. This small school is located in Pasadena, California, and it awarded 5 masters’s environmental engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

Caltech also made our “Best Environmental Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #2. Average graduate tuition and fees at Caltech are $56,649, but you may pay more or less depending on your major.

Full Caltech Environmental Engineering Report

• Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Environmental Engineering in the Far Western US Region
• Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Environmental Engineering

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 U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Alesia Goosic.

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