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Best Value Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

22 Colleges
$16,200 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$83,900 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree School for You

With 1,202 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, mechanical engineering is the #23 most popular major in California.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. 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 Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 22 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for ME students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

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 Mechanical Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California

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

Top 10 Best Mechanical Engineering Master's Degree Schools

Our analysis found California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo to be the best value school for mechanical engineering students who want to pursue a master’s degree in California. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a very large public school located in the small suburb of San Luis Obispo.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo graduate students pay an average of $11,629 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo also is in the top 10% of our Best Mechanical Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend San Jose State University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Mechanical Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. San Jose State is a fairly large public school located in the large 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 full report on Mechanical Engineering at San Jose State University

The excellent master’s degree programs at University of California - Los Angeles helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value mechanical engineering schools in California. UCLA is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UCLA are $13,036 per year.

UCLA also made our Best Mechanical Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list, coming in at #4.

Read More…

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State Polytechnic University - Pomona. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Mechanical Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the suburb of Pomona, Cal Poly Pomona is a public college with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Cal Poly Pomona are $8,873 a year.

Read More…

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Berkeley. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Mechanical Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley.

UC Berkeley graduate students pay an average of $14,160 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

UC Berkeley did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our Best Mechanical Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at University of California - Berkeley

#6

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA

San Diego State University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree mechanical engineering programs. Located in the city of San Diego, SDSU is a public college with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at SDSU are $9,570 per year.

Full Mechanical Engineering at San Diego State University Report

California State University - Long Beach came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Mechanical Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking. CSULB is a very large public school located in the city of Long Beach.

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

Full Mechanical Engineering at California State University - Long Beach Report

University of California - San Diego landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree mechanical engineering programs. 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.

UCSD also claimed a spot on our Best Mechanical Engineering Master’s Degree Schools in California list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools in this category.

Read More…

California State University - Northridge landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree mechanical engineering programs. Located in the large city of Northridge, CSUN is a public school with a very large student population.

CSUN graduate students pay an average of $8,477 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Mechanical Engineering at California State University - Northridge Report

University of California - Santa Barbara did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for mechanical engineering students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #10 on the list. UCSB is a fairly large public school located in the medium-sized suburb of Santa Barbara.

UCSB graduate students pay an average of $13,581 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Mechanical Engineering at University of California - Santa Barbara

Best Value Mechanical Engineering Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 196
Oregon 86
Nevada 20
Hawaii 15
Alaska 7

Mechanical Engineering is one of 39 different types of programs to choose from.

Majors Similar to ME

Related Major Annual Graduates
Electrical Engineering 11,021
Civil Engineering 6,042
Computer Engineering 5,557
Biomedical Engineering 4,252
General Engineering 3,548

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 22 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 Michel Villeneuve.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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