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2022 Best Value Clinical Psychology Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

8 Ranked Colleges
264 Degrees Awarded
$23,900 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Clinical Psychology Schools for a Bachelor's in California

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. 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 Clinical Psychology Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology is the 37th most popular major in the country with 31,746 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, clinical, counseling and applied psychology graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $45,872 and had an average of $65,193 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 5,653 clinical, counseling and applied psychology graduates with average earnings and debt of $51,348 and $87,945 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 264 clinical, counseling and applied psychology graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Clinical Psychology Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking looked at 8 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in clinical, counseling and applied psychology. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality clinical, counseling and applied psychology 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 clinical, counseling and applied psychology program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Clinical Psychology Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Clinical Psychology Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

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

Top 8 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology in California

#1

Palo Alto University

Palo Alto, California

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Palo Alto University. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Clinical Psychology Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. Palo Alto University is a small school located in Palo Alto, California that handed out 12 bachelors’s clinical psychology degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking.

The low student loan default rate of 2.8% 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 Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology at Palo Alto University

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - San Diego. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Clinical Psychology Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. La Jolla, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s clinical psychology degrees to 121 students in 2019-2020.

UCSD did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend University of California - San Diego is $14,232 for california bachelor’s degree clinical psychology students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.5%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full University of California - San Diego Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Report

#7 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend California State University - Fresno. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Clinical Psychology Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. Fresno State is a public institution located in Fresno, California. The school has a large population, and it awarded 13 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Fresno State also took the #7 spot in our “Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend California State University - Fresno is $5,464 for california bachelor’s degree clinical psychology students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 87%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. 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%.

Full Fresno State Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Report

#4

Biola University

La Mirada, California
#3 in overall quality

Out of the 8 schools in the Best Value Clinical Psychology Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Biola University landed the #4 spot on the list. Biola is a medium-sized school located in La Mirada, California that handed out 13 bachelors’s clinical psychology degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Biola, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Biola University is $31,859 for California Bachelor’s Degree Clinical Psychology students.

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 full report on Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology at Biola

#5

Concordia University, Irvine

Irvine, California
#8 in overall quality

Out of the 8 schools in the Best Value Clinical Psychology Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Concordia University, Irvine landed the #5 spot on the list. Concordia University, Irvine is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Irvine, California. It awarded 8 bachelors’s clinical psychology degrees in 2019-2020.

Concordia University, Irvine also made our “Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #8. The yearly cost to attend Concordia University, Irvine is $26,143 for california bachelor’s degree clinical psychology students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.7%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology at Concordia University, Irvine

#6

Mount Saint Mary's University

Los Angeles, California

Mount Saint Mary’s University landed the #6 spot on the 2022 Best Value Clinical Psychology Schools for a Bachelor’s in California ranking. MSMU is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Los Angeles, California. It awarded 43 bachelors’s clinical psychology degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree clinical psychology students list, MSMU has also earned the #4 rank in our “Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend MSMU is $29,214 for California Bachelor’s Degree Clinical Psychology students.

The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. The low student loan default rate of 2.2% 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 more about Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology at Mount Saint Mary’s University

#7

University of La Verne

La Verne, California
#6 in overall quality

University of La Verne landed the #7 spot on the 2022 Best Value Clinical Psychology Schools for a Bachelor’s in California ranking. ULV is a private not-for-profit institution located in La Verne, California. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 1 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree clinical psychology students list, ULV has also earned the #6 rank in our “Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $25,780 for california bachelor’s degree clinical psychology students per year to attend ULV.

The low student loan default rate of 3.2% 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 La Verne Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Report

#5 in overall quality

With a ranking of #8, Saint Mary’s College of California did quite well on the 2022 Best Value Clinical Psychology Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. SMC is a small school located in Moraga, California that handed out 7 bachelors’s clinical psychology degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree clinical psychology students list, SMC has also earned the #5 rank in our “Best Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Saint Mary’s College of California is $34,392 for California Bachelor’s Degree Clinical Psychology students.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.

Full Saint Mary’s College of California Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology 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.

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