2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Geographic Information Science 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 Geographic Information Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2019-2020, 3,098 people earned their degree in geographic information science, making the major the 357th most popular in the United States.

Across California, there were 379 geographic information science graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 92 geographic information science graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Geographic Information Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking analyzed 2 colleges that offered a degree in geographic information science. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great geographic information science programs and cost less that 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 geographic information science program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Geographic Information Science Schools

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Geographic Information Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.

Best Value Geographic Information Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Geographic Information Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California.

Top 2 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Geographic Information Science in California

#1

University of California - Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, California

#2 in overall quality

$15,884 Average Net Price

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Geographic Information Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Santa Barbara landed the #1 spot on the list. Santa Barbara, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s geographic information science degrees to 79 students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree geographic information science students list, UCSB has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Geographic Information Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $15,884 for California Bachelor’s Degree Geographic Information Science students per year to attend UCSB.

The low student loan default rate of 1.5% 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%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 91%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Geographic Information Science at University of California - Santa Barbara

#2

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California

#1 in overall quality

$29,528 Average Net Price

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Geographic Information Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Southern California landed the #2 spot on the list. Los Angeles, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s geographic information science degrees to 13 students in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree geographic information science students list, USC has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Geographic Information Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $29,528 for California Bachelor’s Degree Geographic Information Science students per year to attend University of Southern California.

The student loan default rate at the school is 1.2%, which is quite low when compared to the national default 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. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 91%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Geographic Information Science at University of Southern California

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Geographic Information Science in the Far Western US Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Geographic Information Science

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 Couleur.

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