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Best Value International Relations & Security Schools in California

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2023 Best Value International Relations & Security Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

9 Colleges
$31,337 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$39,402 Avg Salary

Finding the Best International Relations & National Security School for You

International Relations & National Security is the #49 most popular major in California with 534 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. 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 International Relations & Security Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 9 schools in California to see which programs offered the best value experiences for international relations 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 International Relations & National Security Schools in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Value International Relations & National Security Colleges.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality in International Relations & Security

$14,700 Average Tuition & Fees

Our 2023 rankings named University of California - San Diego the best value school in California for international relations and national security students. Located in the city of La Jolla, UCSD is a public school with a fairly large student population.

UCSD undergraduate students pay an average of $14,700 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on International Relations & National Security at University of California - San Diego

#2

San Francisco State University

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

The excellent programs at San Francisco State University helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best international relations and national security schools in California. Located in the large city of San Francisco, SFSU is a public school with a very large student population.

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

Read full report on International Relations & National Security at San Francisco State University

#3

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 #3 on our 2023 Best Value International Relations & Security Schools in California list. 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 undergraduate at SDSU are $8,136 a year.

Full International Relations & National Security at San Diego State University Report

$7,213 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - San Bernardino. It ranked #4 on our 2023 Best Value International Relations & Security Schools in California list. Located in the medium-sized city of San Bernardino, CSUSB is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at CSUSB are $7,213 per year.

Read More…

#5

Stanford University

Stanford, CA
$56,169 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 9 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Stanford University landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the suburb of Stanford, Stanford is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Stanford are $56,169 per year.

Stanford also took the #1 spot in our Best International Relations & Security Schools in California rankings.

Full International Relations & National Security at Stanford University Report

Claremont Graduate University landed the #6 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value international relations and national security programs. Located in the large suburb of Claremont, Claremont Graduate University is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

In addition to its great value ranking, Claremont Graduate University is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best International Relations & Security Schools in California list.

Read full report on International Relations & National Security at Claremont Graduate University

$42,804 Average Tuition & Fees

Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey came in at #7 in this year’s edition of the Best Value International Relations & Security Schools in California ranking. Located in the midsize suburb of Monterey, Middlebury Institute is a private not-for-profit school with a fairly small student population.

Middlebury Institute undergraduate students pay an average of $42,804 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

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$61,503 Average Tuition & Fees

University of Southern California did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for international relations and national security students. It came in at #8 on the list. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit college with a very large student population.

USC undergraduate students pay an average of $61,503 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its great value ranking, USC is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best International Relations & Security Schools in California list.

Read More…

#9

University of San Diego

San Diego, CA
$52,864 Average Tuition & Fees

University of San Diego came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value International Relations & Security Schools in California ranking. USD is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the large city of San Diego.

USD undergraduate students pay an average of $52,864 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

Best Value International Relations & National Security Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value International Relations & National Security Schools in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 13
Hawaii 17

One of 12 majors within the area of study, international relations and national security has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Economics 6,173
Political Science & Government 2,664
Geography & Cartography 2,315
Sociology 1,907
Anthropology 1,446

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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to RepubFan12.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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