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Best Value Journalism Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Journalism Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

2 Colleges
$43,464 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$33,623 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Journalism School for You

With 45 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, journalism is the #168 most popular major in California.

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 Journalism Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. Our analysis looked at 2 schools in California to see which programs offered the best value experiences for journalism 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 Journalism Schools in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Journalism Colleges.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality in Journalism

$61,503 Average Tuition & Fees

Our analysis found University of Southern California to be the best value school for journalism students who want to pursue a degree in California. Located in the city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

USC undergraduate students pay an average of $61,503 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, USC also did well on our Best Journalism Schools in California list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Read More…

#2

Academy of Art University

San Francisco, CA
$25,424 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Academy of Art University. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Journalism Schools in California list. Located in the city of San Francisco, Academy of Art University is a private for-profit college with a medium-sized student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Academy of Art University are $25,424 per year.

Full Journalism at Academy of Art University Report

Best Value Journalism Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Journalism Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Oregon 11
Nevada 12

Journalism is one of 5 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Communication & Media Studies 5,059
Public Relations & Advertising 2,828
Radio, Television & Digital Communication 2,562
Communication & Journalism (Other) 341
Publishing 214

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 2 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 Jfurrer.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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