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Best Value Psychology Master's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Psychology Master's Degree Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

74 Colleges
$9,722 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$45,565 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Psychology Master's Degree 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 Master's Degree Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 74 schools in California to see which master's degree 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 Master’s Degree Schools in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Psychology Master's Degree Colleges.

Top 15% Best Psychology Master's Degree Schools

#1

Touro University Worldwide

Los Alamitos, CA

Our 2023 rankings named Touro University Worldwide the best value school in California for psychology students working on their master’s degree. TUW is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Los Alamitos.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at TUW are $9,000 a year.

Read full report on Psychology at Touro University Worldwide

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means California State University - Long Beach is a great value for psychology students working on their master’s degree. CSULB is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Long Beach.

CSULB graduate students pay an average of $8,280 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

Out of the 74 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Fresno landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the city of Fresno, Fresno State is a public college with a very large student population.

Fresno State graduate students pay an average of $8,087 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend California State University - Northridge. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Psychology Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the large city of Northridge, CSUN is a public school with a fairly large student population.

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

Read More…

#5

Brandman University

Irvine, CA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Brandman University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Psychology Master’s Degree 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 graduate student at Brandman are $12,720 a year.

Read More…

San Jose State University came in at #6 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Psychology Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking. San Jose State is a fairly large public school located in the large city of San Jose.

San Jose State graduate students pay an average of $9,286 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Psychology at San Jose State University

California State University - Sacramento landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree psychology programs. Located in the large city of Sacramento, Sac State is a public college with a fairly large student population.

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

Read More…

#8

San Diego State University

San Diego, CA

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

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at SDSU are $9,570 a year.

Read full report on Psychology at San Diego State University

California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for psychology students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #9 on the list. 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.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo also did well on our Best Psychology Master’s Degree Schools in California list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

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

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

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

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

California State University - Fullerton came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Psychology Master’s Degree Schools in California ranking. Cal State Fullerton is a very 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 Psychology at California State University - Fullerton Report

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 Master's Degree Schools in California award.

Rank College Location
12 San Francisco State University San Francisco, CA
13 Sonoma State University Rohnert Park, CA
14 California State University - Chico Chico, 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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