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2022 Best Vallue Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making Over $110k

5 Ranked Colleges
112 Degrees Awarded
$33,000 Avg Net Price*
Best Vallue Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor's in California For Those Making Over $110k

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Vallue Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making Over $110k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Astronomy & Astrophysics is the 222nd most popular major in the country with 1,268 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, astronomy and astrophysics graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $27,700 and had an average of $21,346 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 153 astronomy and astrophysics graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $14,817 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 112 astronomy and astrophysics graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Vallue Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making Over $110k” ranking, we looked at 5 colleges that offer a degree in astronomy and astrophysics. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality astronomy and astrophysics programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the astronomy and astrophysics program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

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 Vallue Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making Over $110k” list to help you make the college decision.

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.

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Best Vallue Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making Over $110k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Vallue Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making Over $110k.

Top 5 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Astronomy & Astrophysics (Income Over $110k) in California

#1

San Diego State University

San Diego, California
#5 in overall quality

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Vallue Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making Over $110k that were part of this year’s ranking, San Diego State University landed the #1 spot on the list. SDSU is a large school located in San Diego, California that handed out 3 bachelors’s astronomy degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at SDSU, the school also landed the #5 spot in our “Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $14,788 for California Bachelor’s Degree Astronomy students whose families make more than $110k per year to attend SDSU.

The student loan default rate at the school is 2.8%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 89%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Full SDSU Astronomy & Astrophysics Report

#2

University of California - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California
#2 in overall quality

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Vallue Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making Over $110k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Los Angeles landed the #2 spot on the list. UCLA is a public institution located in Los Angeles, California. The school has a large population, and it awarded 19 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

UCLA did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend University of California - Los Angeles is $14,279 for California Bachelor’s Degree Astronomy students whose families make more than $110k.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. 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 more about Astronomy & Astrophysics at UCLA

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Vallue Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making Over $110k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Berkeley landed the #3 spot on the list. UC Berkeley is a public institution located in Berkeley, California. The school has a large population, and it awarded 53 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

UC Berkeley also made our “Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #3. It costs about $15,329 for california bachelor’s degree astronomy students whose families make more than $110k per year to attend UC Berkeley.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.7%, 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 96%.

Full UC Berkeley Astronomy & Astrophysics Report

#4

University of California - Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz, California
#4 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Santa Cruz. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Vallue Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making Over $110k list. UC Santa Cruz is a fairly large school located in Santa Cruz, California that handed out 28 bachelors’s astronomy degrees in 2019-2020.

UC Santa Cruz did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend UC Santa Cruz is $18,186 for california bachelor’s degree astronomy students whose families make more than $110k.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 85%. The low student loan default rate of 2.9% 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%.

Full University of California - Santa Cruz Astronomy & Astrophysics Report

#5

California Institute of Technology

Pasadena, California
#1 in overall quality

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Vallue Astronomy Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making Over $110k that were part of this year’s ranking, California Institute of Technology landed the #5 spot on the list. California Institute of Technology is located in Pasadena, California and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 8 bachelors’s astronomy degrees to qualified students.

Caltech also took the #1 spot in our “Best Astronomy & Astrophysics Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $24,274 for california bachelor’s degree astronomy students whose families make more than $110k per year to attend Caltech.

With a student-to-faculty ratio of 3 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. 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%. With a freshman retention rate of 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read full report on Astronomy & Astrophysics at Caltech

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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.

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