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Best Value Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

4 Colleges
$35,888 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$56,176 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 509 degrees and certificates were awarded to communication and media studies students who went to a California college or university. This makes it the #50 most popular major in the state.

There are so many programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one for you. With more and more schools offering online options, you could even register for a great program on the other side of the country. On top of that, there are a considerable number of trade schools that offer fast-track entry to many fields.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Grad Degree Search has created the Best Value Communication & Media Studies Doctor's Degree Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 4 schools in California to see which doctor's degree programs offered the best value experiences for communications students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. Specifically, our score for quality is discounted by the published tuition and fees charged by the given college. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The more quality your dollar buys, the better the value.

For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value Communication & Media Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in California

Check out the communications doctor's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality for a Doctorate in Communication & Media Studies

Our analysis found University of California - Santa Barbara to be the best value school for communication and media studies students who want to pursue a doctor’s degree in California. UCSB is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Santa Barbara.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UCSB are $13,581 a year.

Read More…

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of California - San Diego. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Communication & Media Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at UCSD are $13,564 a year.

Full Communication & Media Studies at University of California - San Diego Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of Southern California. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Communication & Media Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.

USC graduate students pay an average of $61,396 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its great value ranking, USC is in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list.

Full Communication & Media Studies at University of Southern California Report

#4

Stanford University

Stanford, CA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Stanford University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Communication & Media Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

Stanford graduate students pay an average of $55,011 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Stanford also made our Best Communication & Media Studies Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list, coming in at #1.

Read full report on Communication & Media Studies at Stanford University

Best Value Communication & Media Studies Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Communication & Media Studies Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 62
Oregon 27
Nevada 18
Hawaii 21
Alaska 4

One of 5 majors within the area of study, communication and media studies has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Public Relations & Advertising 2,828
Radio, Television & Digital Communication 2,562
Journalism 1,238
Communication & Journalism (Other) 341
Publishing 214

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 4 schools only.

  • 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 the rest 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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to UNU-WIDER from Helsinki, Finland.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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