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Best Value Education Master's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Education Master's Degree Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

57 Colleges
$9,783 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$49,367 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Education Master's Degree 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 Master's Degree Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 57 schools in California to see which master's degree 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 Master’s Degree Schools in California

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for education majors pursuing a master's degree.

Top 10 Best Education Master's Degree Schools

Our 2023 rankings named Concordia University, Irvine the best value school in California for education students working on their master’s degree. Concordia University, Irvine is a small private not-for-profit school located in the city of Irvine.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Concordia University, Irvine are $8,564 a year.

Concordia University, Irvine excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 15% of all schools on our Best Education Master’s Degree Schools in California list.

Full Education at Concordia University, Irvine Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Long Beach. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Education Master’s Degree Schools in California list. CSULB is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Long Beach.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at CSULB are $8,280 a year.

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You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Sacramento. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Education Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Sacramento, Sac State is a public school with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Sac State are $8,826 per year.

Full Education at California State University - Sacramento Report

The excellent master’s degree programs at California State University - Los Angeles helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value education schools in California. Located in the city of Los Angeles, Cal State LA is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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

Full Education at California State University - Los Angeles Report

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means California State University - Fullerton is a great value for education students working on their master’s degree. Cal State Fullerton is a fairly large public school located in the suburb of Fullerton.

Cal State Fullerton graduate students pay an average of $8,410 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Education at California State University - Fullerton Report

With a ranking of #6, California State University - San Bernardino did quite well on this year’s best value schools for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the medium-sized city of San Bernardino, CSUSB is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at CSUSB are $8,647 a year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - San Bernardino

California State University - San Marcos did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. Located in the suburb of San Marcos, CSUSM is a public college with a large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at CSUSM are $9,161 per year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - San Marcos

With a ranking of #8, California State University - Fresno did quite well on this year’s best value schools for education students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large 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 full report on Education at California State University - Fresno

California State University - East Bay came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Education Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking. Located in the large suburb of Hayward, Cal State East Bay is a public school with a fairly large student population.

Cal State East Bay graduate students pay an average of $8,429 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Education at California State University - East Bay

California State University - Northridge did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for education students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. Located in the large city of Northridge, CSUN is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at CSUN are $8,477 a year.

Full Education at California State University - Northridge Report

Best Value Education Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Education Colleges 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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