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Best Value Area Studies Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Area Studies Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

11 Colleges
$19,691 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$29,544 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Area Studies School for You

Area Studies is the #118 most popular major in California with 136 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Grad Degree Search has created the Best Value Area Studies Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 11 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value programs for area studies 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. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

Our calculations use out-of-state tuition and fees in our nationwide and regional rankings. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

2023 Best Value Area Studies Schools in California

Check out the area studies programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Area Studies Schools

#1

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA
$8,136 Average Tuition & Fees

Our analysis found San Diego State University to be the best value school for area studies students who want to pursue a degree in California. SDSU is a very large public school located in the large city of San Diego.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at SDSU are $8,136 a year.

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$6,846 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Long Beach. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Area Studies Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at CSULB are $6,846 a year.

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$14,226 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 11 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Berkeley landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public school with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UC Berkeley are $14,226 a year.

UC Berkeley also made our Best Area Studies Schools in California list, coming in at #3.

Read full report on Area Studies at University of California - Berkeley

$6,976 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at California State University - Fullerton helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best area studies schools in California. Located in the suburb of Fullerton, Cal State Fullerton is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Cal State Fullerton are $6,976 a year.

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$14,645 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 11 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Davis landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the small suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public college with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UC Davis are $14,645 per year.

Read full report on Area Studies at University of California - Davis

$14,700 Average Tuition & Fees

With a ranking of #6, University of California - San Diego did quite well on this year’s best value schools for area studies students. UCSD is a fairly large public school located in the large city of La Jolla.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UCSD are $14,700 per year.

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$13,258 Average Tuition & Fees

University of California - Los Angeles did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for area studies students. It came in at #7 on the list. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public college with a fairly large student population.

UCLA undergraduate students pay an average of $13,258 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

UCLA excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Area Studies Schools in California list.

Full Area Studies at University of California - Los Angeles Report

$14,417 Average Tuition & Fees

University of California - Santa Barbara landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value area studies programs. Located in the midsize suburb of Santa Barbara, UCSB is a public college with a fairly large student population.

UCSB undergraduate students pay an average of $14,417 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

UCSB excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Area Studies Schools in California list.

Read full report on Area Studies at University of California - Santa Barbara

$13,754 Average Tuition & Fees

University of California - Riverside ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Area Studies Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Riverside, UCR is a public school with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UCR are $13,754 per year.

Full Area Studies at University of California - Riverside Report

#10

University of San Francisco

San Francisco, CA
$53,472 Average Tuition & Fees

University of San Francisco landed the #10 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value area studies programs. USFCA is a large private not-for-profit school located in the large city of San Francisco.

USFCA undergraduate students pay an average of $53,472 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, USFCA also did well on our Best Area Studies Schools in California list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Read full report on Area Studies at University of San Francisco

Best Value Area Studies Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 33
Oregon 12
Nevada 0
Hawaii 18
Alaska 1

One of 2 majors within the area of study, area studies has other similar majors worth exploring.

Majors Similar to Area Studies

Related Major Annual Graduates
Ethnic Studies 1,081
Ethnic, Culture, & Gender Studies (Other) 5

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 11 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 Karl Udo Gerth.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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