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Best Value Psychology Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Psychology Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

75 Colleges
$11,596 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$40,013 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Psychology School for You

Psychology is one of the most popular subjects to study in California. With 7,826 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, it ranked 5th 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. Along with traditional schools that require in-person attendence, you can attend one of many reputable online schools. Some programs even offer a hybrid experience. Alternatively, you may choose a trade school that prepares you to enter the workforce with knowledge in a specific field.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Grad Degree Search has created its Best Value Psychology Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 75 schools in California to see which programs offered the best value experiences for psychology 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 Psychology Schools in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Psychology Colleges.

Top 15% Best Psychology Schools

#1

Touro University Worldwide

Los Alamitos, CA
$14,640 Average Tuition & Fees

Our analysis found Touro University Worldwide to be the best value school for psychology students who want to pursue a degree in California. TUW is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Los Alamitos.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at TUW are $14,640 a year.

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$6,846 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at California State University - Long Beach helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best psychology schools in California. CSULB is a very large public school located in the large city of Long Beach.

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

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$6,653 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend California State University - Fresno. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Psychology Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Fresno, Fresno State is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Fresno State are $6,653 a year.

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#4

Brandman University

Irvine, CA
$12,480 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Brandman University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Psychology Schools in California list. Brandman is a moderately-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of Irvine.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Brandman are $12,480 a year.

Full Psychology at Brandman University Report

$7,043 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend California State University - Northridge. The school came in at #5 on this year’s Best Value Psychology Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Northridge, CSUN is a public college with a fairly large student population.

CSUN undergraduate students pay an average of $7,043 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Psychology at California State University - Northridge

$7,852 Average Tuition & Fees

San Jose State University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Psychology Schools in California list. San Jose State is a very large public school located in the large city of San Jose.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at San Jose State are $7,852 per year.

San Jose State excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Psychology Schools in California list.

Read full report on Psychology at San Jose State University

$7,392 Average Tuition & Fees

With a ranking of #7, California State University - Sacramento did quite well on this year’s best value schools for psychology students. Located in the city of Sacramento, Sac State is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Sac State undergraduate students pay an average of $7,392 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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$10,195 Average Tuition & Fees

With a ranking of #8, California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo did quite well on this year’s best value schools for psychology students. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a fairly large public school located in the small suburb of San Luis Obispo.

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo undergraduate students pay an average of $10,195 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo also did well on our Best Psychology Schools in California list. It’s in the top 15% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Full Psychology at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo Report

#8

San Diego State University

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

With a ranking of #8, San Diego State University did quite well on this year’s best value schools for psychology students. Located in the city of San Diego, SDSU is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at SDSU are $8,136 per year.

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$6,976 Average Tuition & Fees

California State University - Fullerton came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Psychology Schools in California ranking. Cal State Fullerton is a very large public school located in the suburb of Fullerton.

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

Full Psychology at California State University - Fullerton Report

$7,439 Average Tuition & Fees

California State Polytechnic University - Pomona came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Psychology Schools in California ranking. Located in the large suburb of Pomona, Cal Poly Pomona is a public college with a fairly large student population.

Cal Poly Pomona undergraduate students pay an average of $7,439 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Psychology at California State Polytechnic University - Pomona

Honorable Mentions

Here are some additional great value schools for Psychology graduate students in the state of California seeking value that almost earned our Best Value Psychology Schools in California award.

Rank College Location
12 San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA
13 California State University - Monterey Bay Seaside, CA
14 Biola University La Mirada, CA
15 Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, CA

Best Value Psychology Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 406
Oregon 367
Nevada 88
Hawaii 140
Alaska 23

Psychology Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Clinical, Counseling & Applied Psychology 29,224
General Psychology 8,051
Child Development & Psychology 2,576
Other Psychology 2,162

Related Major Annual Graduates
Education 199,724
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 Nevit Dilmen.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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