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2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

6 Ranked Colleges
244 Degrees Awarded
$25,300 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor's in California

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking.

In 2019-2020, 9,411 people earned their degree in general engineering, making the major the 83rd most popular in the United States.

Across California, there were 491 general engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 244 general engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking looked at 6 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in general engineering. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent general engineering programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

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

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 Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” 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. 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 Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

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

Top 6 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering in California

#2 in overall quality

Out of the 6 schools in the Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California 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 engineering degrees to 129 students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UC Davis, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for UC Davis is $14,669 for california bachelor’s degree engineering students.

The low student loan default rate of 1.9% 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%. With a freshman retention rate of 93%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Full UC Davis General Engineering Report

#6 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Long Beach. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. This large school is located in Long Beach, California, and it awarded 18 bachelors’s engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

CSULB did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #6 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. It costs about $9,622 for California Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students per year to attend California State University - Long Beach.

The student loan default rate at the school is 1.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 89%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about General Engineering at CSULB

#3

University of San Diego

San Diego, California
#5 in overall quality

Out of the 6 schools in the Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of San Diego landed the #3 spot on the list. USD is a medium-sized school located in San Diego, California that handed out 9 bachelors’s engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at USD, the school also landed the #5 spot in our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of San Diego is $32,460 for California Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students.

The low student loan default rate of 1.6% 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 full report on General Engineering at USD

#4

Santa Clara University

Santa Clara, California
#4 in overall quality

Out of the 6 schools in the Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Santa Clara University landed the #4 spot on the list. Santa Clara University is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school situated in Santa Clara, California. It awarded 3 bachelors’s engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

SCU also took the #4 spot in our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend SCU is $38,327 for California Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students.

The low student loan default rate of 1.0% 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 93%.

Read full report on General Engineering at Santa Clara University

#5

California Institute of Technology

Pasadena, California
#3 in overall quality

Out of the 6 schools in the Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California Institute of Technology landed the #5 spot on the list. California Institute of Technology is a private not-for-profit institution located in Pasadena, California. The school has a small population, and it awarded 1 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree engineering students list, Caltech has also earned the #3 rank in our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Caltech is $24,274 for california bachelor’s degree engineering students.

The low student loan default rate of 1.0% 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 impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 3 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. With a freshman retention rate of 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about General Engineering at California Institute of Technology

#6

Harvey Mudd College

Claremont, California
#1 in overall quality

Harvey Mudd College ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. Located in Claremont, California, this small private not-for-profit school awarded 68 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s engineering students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree engineering students list, Harvey Mudd College has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Harvey Mudd College is $32,727 for California Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students.

The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 92%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about General Engineering at Harvey Mudd College

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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.

Credits

  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Rémi Kaupp.

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