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

9 Ranked Colleges
185 Degrees Awarded
$15,900 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Materials 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. 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 Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking is one tool we have developed to help in this regard.

Materials Engineering is the 150th most popular major in the country with 3,485 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, materials engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $63,129 and had an average of $23,918 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 482 materials engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $64,000 and $15,750 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 185 materials engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking analyzed 9 colleges that offered a degree in materials engineering. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent materials 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 materials 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.

More Ways to Rank Materials 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 Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

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

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

Top 9 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Materials Engineering in California

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. This large school is located in San Luis Obispo, California, and it awarded 38 bachelors’s materials engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is $21,595 for california bachelor’s degree materials engineering students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo Materials Engineering Report

#2

University of California - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California
#4 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Los Angeles. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. University of California - Los Angeles is located in Los Angeles, California and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 23 bachelors’s materials engineering degrees to qualified students.

UCLA also made our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #4. It costs about $14,279 for California Bachelor’s Degree Materials Engineering students per year to attend UCLA.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%. 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%.

Read full report on Materials Engineering at University of California - Los Angeles

#3

San Jose State University

San Jose, California
#6 in overall quality

Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, San Jose State University landed the #3 spot on the list. San Jose, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s materials engineering degrees to 22 students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at San Jose State, the school also landed the #6 spot in our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for San Jose State University is $14,928 for california bachelor’s degree materials engineering students.

The low student loan default rate of 3.7% 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%. With a freshman retention rate of 86%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about Materials Engineering at San Jose State University

#5 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Irvine. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. This large school is located in Irvine, California, and it awarded 30 bachelors’s materials engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

UC Irvine not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #5 on our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend University of California - Irvine is $14,783 for california bachelor’s degree materials engineering students.

The low student loan default rate of 1.3% 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 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read full report on Materials Engineering at University of California - Irvine

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of California - Davis. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. This large school is located in Davis, California, and it awarded 38 bachelors’s materials engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree materials engineering students list, UC Davis has also earned the #7 rank in our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of California - Davis is $14,669 for california bachelor’s degree materials 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%. 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 Materials Engineering at UC Davis

#8 in overall quality

University of California - Riverside ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. Riverside, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s materials engineering degrees to 14 students in 2019-2020.

UCR did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #8 on our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The estimated yearly cost for University of California - Riverside is $12,871 for california bachelor’s degree materials engineering students.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 91%. The low student loan default rate of 2.1% 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 Materials Engineering at UCR

#9 in overall quality

University of California - Merced ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. Located in Merced, California, this medium-sized public school handed out 7 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s materials engineering students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UC Merced, the school also landed the #9 spot in our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $13,896 for California Bachelor’s Degree Materials Engineering students per year to attend University of California - Merced.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.9%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 86%.

Read full report on Materials Engineering at University of California - Merced

#8

Stanford University

Stanford, California
#1 in overall quality

With a ranking of #8, Stanford University did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. This fairly large school is located in Stanford, California, and it awarded 8 bachelors’s materials engineering degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree materials engineering students list, Stanford has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Stanford University is $11,496 for California Bachelor’s Degree Materials Engineering students.

With a student-to-faculty ratio of 4 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. The low student loan default rate of 0.5% 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 86%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read full report on Materials Engineering at Stanford University

#9

California Institute of Technology

Pasadena, California
#2 in overall quality

California Institute of Technology came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Materials Engineering Schools for a Bachelor’s in California ranking. California Institute of Technology is a private not-for-profit institution located in Pasadena, California. The school has a small population, and it awarded 5 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Caltech did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Materials Engineering Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The estimated yearly cost for California Institute of Technology is $24,274 for California Bachelor’s Degree Materials Engineering students.

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 impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. 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 more about Materials Engineering at California Institute of Technology

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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 Panoramedia.

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