2024 Best Value Colleges for Interdisciplinary Studies in California

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Interdisciplinary Studies Schools in California” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2020-2021, 9,074 people earned their degree in interdisciplinary studies, making the major the 86th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, interdisciplinary studies graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $32,077 and had an average of $27,069 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 200 interdisciplinary studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $35,518 and $23,735 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Interdisciplinary Studies Schools in California” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in interdisciplinary studies. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality interdisciplinary studies programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the interdisciplinary studies program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

The interdisciplinary studies school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Best Value Interdisciplinary Studies Schools in California”.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our 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 Interdisciplinary Studies Schools in California

The colleges and universities below are the best for california interdisciplinary studies students.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Interdisciplinary Studies in California

1

National University
La Jolla, California

#3 in overall quality

$20,722 Average Net Price

$58,580 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend National University. It ranked #1 on our 2024 Best Value Interdisciplinary Studies Schools in California list. La Jolla, California is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s interdisciplinary studies degrees to 23 students in 2020-2021.

National University not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #3 on our “Best Interdisciplinary Studies Schools in California” list. The estimated yearly cost for National University is $20,722 for California Interdisciplinary Studies students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 100%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 3.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full National University Interdisciplinary Studies Report

2

Biola University
La Mirada, California

#2 in overall quality

$33,269 Average Net Price

$42,424 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Biola University. It ranked #2 on our 2024 Best Value Interdisciplinary Studies Schools in California list. Biola is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school situated in La Mirada, California. It awarded 8 ’s interdisciplinary studies degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our california interdisciplinary studies students list, Biola has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Interdisciplinary Studies Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $33,269 for California Interdisciplinary Studies students per year to attend Biola University.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 88%. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full Biola University Interdisciplinary Studies Report

3

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California

#1 in overall quality

$32,569 Average Net Price

$65,044 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Southern California. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Interdisciplinary Studies Schools in California. This large school is located in Los Angeles, California, and it awarded 27 ’s interdisciplinary studies degrees in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our california interdisciplinary studies students list, USC has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Interdisciplinary Studies Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $32,569 for california interdisciplinary studies students per year to attend University of Southern California.

The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a freshman retention rate of 96%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students.

Read more about Interdisciplinary Studies at University of Southern California

• Best Value Colleges for Interdisciplinary Studies in the Far Western US Region
• Best Value Colleges for Interdisciplinary Studies

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 UTDallas.