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2022 Best Value Acting Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

6 Ranked Colleges
239 Degrees Awarded
$39,600 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Acting 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 Acting Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking is part of that endeavor.

In 2019-2020, 1,944 people earned their degree in acting, making the major the 319th most popular in the United States.

Across California, there were 570 acting graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 239 acting graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Acting Schools for a Bachelor’s in California” ranking, we looked at 6 colleges that offer a degree in acting. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent acting programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the acting 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 Acting Schools

The acting 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 Acting Schools for a Bachelor’s in California”.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. 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 Acting Schools for a Bachelor’s in California

The colleges and universities below are the best for california bachelor’s degree acting students.

Top 6 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Acting in California

#1

Academy of Art University

San Francisco, California
#5 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Academy of Art University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Acting Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. San Francisco, California is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The private for-profit school handed out bachelors’s acting degrees to 27 students in 2019-2020.

Academy of Art University also made our “Best Acting Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #5. It costs about $34,145 for California Bachelor’s Degree Acting students per year to attend Academy of Art University.

Read more about Acting at Academy of Art University

#2

New York Film Academy

Burbank, California
#6 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend New York Film Academy. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Acting Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. Burbank, California is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private for-profit school handed out bachelors’s acting degrees to 98 students in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at New York Film Academy, the school also landed the #6 spot in our “Best Acting Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $45,280 for California Bachelor’s Degree Acting students per year to attend New York Film Academy.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 2.5%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.

Read full report on Acting at New York Film Academy

#3

California Institute of the Arts

Valencia, California
#4 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend California Institute of the Arts. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Acting Schools for a Bachelor’s in California. This small school is located in Valencia, California, and it awarded 29 bachelors’s acting degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree acting students list, CalArts has also earned the #4 rank in our “Best Acting Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend California Institute of the Arts is $50,412 for california bachelor’s degree acting students.

The student loan default rate at the school is 4.6%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. With a student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.

Read full report on Acting at CalArts

#4

Chapman University

Orange, California
#2 in overall quality

Out of the 6 schools in the Best Value Acting Schools for a Bachelor’s in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Chapman University landed the #4 spot on the list. Chapman University is located in Orange, California and, has a medium-sized student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 15 bachelors’s acting degrees to qualified students.

Chapman not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Acting Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. It costs about $41,350 for California Bachelor’s Degree Acting students per year to attend Chapman.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 85%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read more about Acting at Chapman University

#5

Pepperdine University

Malibu, California
#3 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Pepperdine University. It ranked #5 on our 2022 Best Value Acting Schools for a Bachelor’s in California list. Pepperdine University is a medium-sized school located in Malibu, California that handed out 7 bachelors’s acting degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree acting students list, Pepperdine has also earned the #3 rank in our “Best Acting Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Pepperdine University is $36,996 for California Bachelor’s Degree Acting students.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 85%, 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 1.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Acting at Pepperdine University

#6

University of Southern California

Los Angeles, California
#1 in overall quality

University of Southern California did quite well in the 2022 Best Value Acting Schools for a Bachelor’s in California ranking, coming in at #6. USC is a large private not-for-profit school situated in Los Angeles, California. It awarded 63 bachelors’s acting degrees in 2019-2020.

USC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Acting Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend USC is $29,528 for California Bachelor’s Degree Acting students.

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 low student loan default rate of 1.2% 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%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 91%.

Read full report on Acting at University of Southern California

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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