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Best Value Criminology Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Criminology Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

5 Colleges
$10,609 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$37,821 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Criminology School for You

In 2020-2021, 81 degrees and certificates were awarded to criminology students who went to a California college or university. This makes it the #142 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. 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 Criminology Schools in California to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 5 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value programs for criminology 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 Criminology Schools in California

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

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality in Criminology

$13,775 Average Tuition & Fees

Our 2023 rankings named University of California - Irvine the best value school in California for criminology students. Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public college with a fairly large student population.

UC Irvine undergraduate students pay an average of $13,775 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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$6,653 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Fresno. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Criminology Schools in California list. Fresno State is a very large public school located in the city of Fresno.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Fresno State are $6,653 per year.

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$7,852 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 5 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, San Jose State University landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the large city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

San Jose State undergraduate students pay an average of $7,852 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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

Read full report on Criminology at San Jose State University

#4

San Diego State University

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

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend San Diego State University. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value Criminology Schools in California list. SDSU is a very large public school located in the city of San Diego.

SDSU undergraduate students pay an average of $8,136 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Criminology at San Diego State University Report

$16,631 Average Tuition & Fees

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means Alliant International University is a great value for criminology students. Located in the large city of San Diego, Alliant is a private for-profit college with a small student population.

Alliant undergraduate students pay an average of $16,631 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Criminology at Alliant International University Report

Best Value Criminology Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 7
Nevada 6

One of 12 majors within the area of study, criminology has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Economics 6,173
International Relations & National Security 5,010
Political Science & Government 2,664
Geography & Cartography 2,315
Sociology 1,907

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 5 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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