2022 Best Value Physical Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Value Physical Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking.

General Physical Sciences is the 135th most popular major in the country with 4,159 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, general physical sciences graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $25,050 and had an average of $13,137 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 389 general physical sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 25 general physical sciences graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Physical Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in general physical sciences. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great general physical sciences programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the general physical sciences program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

More Ways to Rank General Physical Sciences Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Physical Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that 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. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Physical Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Physical Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Physical Sciences (Income $0-$30k) in California

#1

California State University - Fresno

Fresno, California

#2 in overall quality

$3,264 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Fresno. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Physical Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k list. Located in Fresno, California, this large public school handed out 16 degrees to qualified bachelors’s physical science students in 2019-2020.

Fresno State did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best General Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. It costs about $3,264 for california bachelor’s degree physical science students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend California State University - Fresno.

With a freshman retention rate of 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students. The student loan default rate at the school is 4.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on General Physical Sciences at California State University - Fresno

#2

University of California - Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz, California

#1 in overall quality

$10,872 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Physical Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Santa Cruz landed the #2 spot on the list. University of California - Santa Cruz is a fairly large public school situated in Santa Cruz, California. It awarded 7 bachelors’s physical science degrees in 2019-2020.

UC Santa Cruz also made our “Best General Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #1. It costs about $10,872 for California Bachelor’s Degree Physical Science students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend University of California - Santa Cruz.

The student loan default rate at the school is 2.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 85%.

Read more about General Physical Sciences at UC Santa Cruz

#3

California State University - Stanislaus

Turlock, California

#3 in overall quality

$3,410 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Physical Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Stanislaus landed the #3 spot on the list. Turlock, California is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s physical science degrees to 2 students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree physical science students whose families make $0-$30k list, Stan State has also earned the #3 rank in our “Best General Physical Sciences Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Stan State is $3,410 for California Bachelor’s Degree Physical Science students whose families make $0-$30k.

The low student loan default rate of 4.3% 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 87%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about General Physical Sciences at California State University - Stanislaus

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Physical Sciences (Income $0-$30k) in the Far Western US Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for General Physical Sciences (Income $0-$30k)

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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