2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Musical Theater in California (With Aid)

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. At College Factual, we’re committed to helping you make that decision by providing information such as that found in our “Best Value Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid” ranking.

Musical Theater is the 489th most popular major in the country with 935 degrees awarded in 2019-2020.

Across California, there were 49 musical theater graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 20 musical theater graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in musical theater. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent musical theater programs, but they also 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 musical theater program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Musical Theater Schools

The musical theatre 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 Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid”.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. When you have some time, check it out - you may want to bookmark the link so you don’t forget it.

Best Value Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Musical Theater in California (With Aid)

#1

University of California - Irvine

Irvine, California

#1 in overall quality

$14,783 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Irvine landed the #1 spot on the list. This large school is located in Irvine, California, and it awarded 9 bachelors’s musical theatre degrees in 2019-2020.

UC Irvine also took the #1 spot in our “Best Musical Theater Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend UC Irvine is $14,783 for California Bachelor’s Degree Musical Theatre students with aid.

The low student loan default rate of 1.3% 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 94%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its students.

Read more about Musical Theater at UC Irvine

#2

California State University - Chico

Chico, California

#2 in overall quality

$15,017 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Chico landed the #2 spot on the list. This fairly large school is located in Chico, California, and it awarded 7 bachelors’s musical theatre degrees in 2019-2020.

Chico State also took the #2 spot in our “Best Musical Theater Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $15,017 for California Bachelor’s Degree Musical Theatre students with aid per year to attend California State University - Chico.

The student loan default rate at the school is 3.3%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Musical Theater at Chico State

#3

Vanguard University of Southern California

Costa Mesa, California

#3 in overall quality

$20,051 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Vanguard University of Southern California. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid list. Costa Mesa, California is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s musical theatre degrees to 4 students in 2019-2020.

Vanguard also took the #3 spot in our “Best Musical Theater Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $20,051 for california bachelor’s degree musical theatre students with aid per year to attend Vanguard University of Southern California.

The student loan default rate at the school is 4.0%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Musical Theater at Vanguard

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Musical Theater in the Far Western US Region (With Aid)
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Musical Theater (With Aid)

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 Donald Judge.

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