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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering (Income $75-$110k) in California

6 Ranked Colleges
248 Degrees Awarded
$21,900 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor's in California For Those Making $75-$110k

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k” ranking - to help you make that decision.

General Engineering is the 78th most popular major in the country with 11,925 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, general engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $66,152 and had an average of $20,077 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 1,382 general engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $78,483 and $12,706 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 248 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 For Those Making $75-$110k” ranking analyzed 6 colleges that offered a degree in general engineering. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great general engineering programs and 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. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank General Engineering Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that 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 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 Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k

The colleges and universities below are the best for california bachelor’s degree engineering students whose families make $75-$110k.

Top 6 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Engineering (Income $75-$110k) in California

#1

Harvey Mudd College

Claremont, California

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Harvey Mudd College. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k. Claremont, California is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s engineering degrees to 68 students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Harvey Mudd College, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $24,798 for California Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students whose families make $75-$110k per year to attend Harvey Mudd College.

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. With a freshman retention rate of 92%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read full report on General Engineering at Harvey Mudd College

Out of the 6 schools in the Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Davis landed the #2 spot on the list. This large school is located in Davis, California, and it awarded 129 bachelors’s engineering degrees 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 $17,622 for california bachelor’s degree engineering students whose families make $75-$110k.

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 General Engineering at UC Davis

#3

California Institute of Technology

Pasadena, California
#3 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California Institute of Technology. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k list. Caltech is a small school located in Pasadena, California that handed out 1 bachelors’s engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

Caltech not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. It costs about $12,788 for california bachelor’s degree engineering students whose families make $75-$110k per year to attend California Institute of Technology.

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 student-to-faculty ratio of 3 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on General Engineering at Caltech

#6 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Long Beach. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k list. This large school is located in Long Beach, California, and it awarded 18 bachelors’s engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

CSULB also made our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #6. It costs about $14,544 for california bachelor’s degree engineering students whose families make $75-$110k per year to attend California State University - Long Beach.

With a freshman retention rate of 89%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its 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 California State University - Long Beach

#5

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 For Those Making $75-$110k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of San Diego landed the #5 spot on the list. Located in San Diego, California, this medium-sized private not-for-profit school handed out 9 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s engineering students in 2019-2020.

USD also made our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #5. The yearly cost to attend USD is $30,369 for California Bachelor’s Degree Engineering students whose families make $75-$110k.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read more about General Engineering at USD

#6

Santa Clara University

Santa Clara, California
#4 in overall quality

With a ranking of #6, Santa Clara University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k list. This medium-sized school is located in Santa Clara, California, and it awarded 3 bachelors’s engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

SCU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best General Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The estimated yearly cost for SCU is $31,362 for california bachelor’s degree engineering students whose families make $75-$110k.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 93%. The student loan default rate at the school is 1.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full SCU General Engineering Report

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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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