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Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

31 Colleges
$14,295 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$61,137 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Education Graduate Certificate School for You

Education is one of the most popular subjects to study in California. With 17,606 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, it ranked 3rd out of all the majors we track in the state.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. You're no longer limited to schools in your local area, either, since online programs are becoming more prevalent. Or you may find the programs at a trade school to be a better alternative for you.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 31 schools in California to see which graduate certificate programs offered the best value experiences for education students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

When determining this ranking, we place a high emphasis on the school's quality as well as its sticker price. Even though a college may be affordable, it may not offer value. 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.

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

2023 Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California

Check out the education graduate certificate programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools

Our analysis found California State University - Sacramento to be the best value school for education students who want to pursue a graduate certificate in California. Located in the large city of Sacramento, Sac State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Sac State are $8,826 a year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - Sacramento

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend California State University - Long Beach. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. CSULB is a fairly large public school located in the city of Long Beach.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at CSULB are $8,280 per year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - Long Beach

Out of the 31 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - San Bernardino landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the city of San Bernardino, CSUSB is a public school with a fairly large student population.

CSUSB graduate students pay an average of $8,647 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Education at California State University - San Bernardino Report

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend California State University - Los Angeles. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. Located in the city of Los Angeles, Cal State LA is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Cal State LA are $8,219 a year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - Los Angeles

The excellent graduate certificate programs at California State University - Fresno helped the school earn the #5 place on this year’s ranking of the best value education schools in California. Located in the city of Fresno, Fresno State is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Fresno State graduate students pay an average of $8,087 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

#6

Brandman University

Irvine, CA

With a ranking of #6, Brandman University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for education students working on their graduate certificate. Brandman is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the city of Irvine.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Brandman are $12,720 per year.

Brandman also claimed a spot on our Best Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools in this category.

Full Education at Brandman University Report

With a ranking of #7, San Jose State University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for education students working on their graduate certificate. San Jose State is a fairly large public school located in the city of San Jose.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at San Jose State are $9,286 a year.

Read More…

With a ranking of #8, California State University - Northridge did quite well on this year’s best value schools for education students working on their graduate certificate. Located in the city of Northridge, CSUN is a public school with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at CSUN are $8,477 per year.

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#9

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA

San Francisco State University came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California ranking. Located in the large city of San Francisco, SFSU is a public school with a very large student population.

SFSU graduate students pay an average of $8,738 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Education at San Francisco State University Report

University of California - Irvine ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Education Graduate Certificate Schools in California list. UC Irvine is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Irvine.

UC Irvine graduate students pay an average of $13,356 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

Best Value Education Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 2,740
Oregon 3,137
Nevada 702
Hawaii 401
Alaska 259

Education Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Educational Administration 45,458
Teacher Education Grade Specific 34,451
Special Education 25,158
General Education 21,189
Teacher Education Subject Specific 20,616
Curriculum & Instruction 19,784
Student Counseling 13,840
Instructional Media Design 8,387
Teaching English or French 4,743
Other Education 2,513
Multilingual Education 1,672
Educational Assessment 1,215
Education Philosophy 421
International Education 257
Teaching Assistants 20

Related Major Annual Graduates
Psychology 42,013
Social Sciences 22,292
Communication & Journalism 12,242
Library Science 5,929
History 4,391

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 25 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 Horadrim.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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