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Best Value Philosophy Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Philosophy Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

9 Colleges
$18,338 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$28,527 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Philosophy School for You

In 2020-2021, 138 degrees and certificates were awarded to philosophy students who went to a California college or university. This makes it the #117 most popular major in the state.

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.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Grad Degree Search has developed this Best Value Philosophy Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 9 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value programs for philosophy 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 Philosophy Schools in California

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for philosophy majors pursuing a .

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality in Philosophy

#1

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA
$7,304 Average Tuition & Fees

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

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at SFSU are $7,304 a year.

Read full report on Philosophy at San Francisco State University

$14,645 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of California - Davis. The school came in at #2 on this year’s Best Value Philosophy Schools in California list. Located in the suburb of Davis, UC Davis is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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

Full Philosophy at University of California - Davis Report

#3

Biola University

La Mirada, CA
$44,382 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Biola University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Philosophy Schools in California list. Biola is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of La Mirada.

Biola undergraduate students pay an average of $44,382 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Philosophy at Biola University

$6,785 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Los Angeles. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Philosophy Schools in California list. Cal State LA is a very large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Cal State LA are $6,785 per year.

Full Philosophy at California State University - Los Angeles Report

$14,417 Average Tuition & Fees

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means University of California - Santa Barbara is a great value for philosophy students. 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.

In addition to its great value ranking, UCSB is in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Philosophy Schools in California list.

Read More…

$14,226 Average Tuition & Fees

University of California - Berkeley did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for philosophy students. It came in at #6 on the list. Located in the city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UC Berkeley are $14,226 per year.

UC Berkeley not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #3 on our Best Philosophy Schools in California list.

Read More…

$13,754 Average Tuition & Fees

University of California - Riverside ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Philosophy Schools in California list. Located in the city of Riverside, UCR is a public college with a fairly large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UCR are $13,754 a year.

Read More…

$14,070 Average Tuition & Fees

University of California - Santa Cruz ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Philosophy Schools in California list. UC Santa Cruz is a large public school located in the city of Santa Cruz.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UC Santa Cruz are $14,070 a year.

Full Philosophy at University of California - Santa Cruz Report

$61,503 Average Tuition & Fees

University of Southern California landed the #9 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value philosophy programs. USC is a very large private not-for-profit school located in the city of Los Angeles.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at USC are $61,503 per year.

USC also claimed a spot on our Best Philosophy Schools in California list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.

Read full report on Philosophy at University of Southern California

Best Value Philosophy Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 8
Oregon 9
Nevada 3
Hawaii 3

Philosophy is one of 3 different types of programs to choose from.

Majors Similar to Philosophy

Related Major Annual Graduates
Religious Studies 1,769
Other Philosophy & Religious Studies 106
General Philosophy & Religious Studies 41

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 9 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).

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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