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Best Value Social Sciences Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

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2023 Best Value Social Sciences Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

50 Colleges
$21,505 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$53,732 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Social Sciences Master's Degree School for You

With 22,292 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, social sciences is the #10 most popular major in the United States.

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 Social Sciences Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. This report analyzed 50 schools in the Far Western US Region to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for social sciences 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 Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

Check out the social sciences master's degree programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Top 10 Best Social Sciences Master's Degree Schools

Out of the 50 schools in the Far Western US Region that were part of this year’s ranking, Azusa Pacific University landed the # 2 spot on the list. Located in the large suburb of Azusa, Azusa Pacific is a private not-for-profit college with a moderately-sized student population.

Azusa Pacific graduate students pay an average of $16,696 in tuition and fees each year.

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#3

Biola University

La Mirada, CA

The excellent master’s degree programs at Biola University helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best value social sciences schools in the Far Western US Region . Biola is a medium-sized private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of La Mirada.

Biola graduate students pay an average of $12,006 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Social Sciences at Biola University Report

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend University of California - Irvine. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list. Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public school with a very large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UC Irvine are $28,458 per year.

Read full report on Social Sciences at University of California - Irvine

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend San Jose State University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list. Located in the large city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public school with a very large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at San Jose State are $18,790 per year.

San Jose State excels when it comes to quality. It’s ranked in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list.

Read full report on Social Sciences at San Jose State University

California State University - East Bay did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for social sciences students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Cal State East Bay is a large public school located in the suburb of Hayward.

Cal State East Bay graduate students pay an average of $17,933 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Social Sciences at California State University - East Bay Report

California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree social sciences programs. Located in the suburb of San Luis Obispo, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is a public school with a very large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo are $21,133 per year.

In addition to its great value ranking, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo is in the top 10% of all schools on our Best Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list.

Full Social Sciences at California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo Report

California State University - Fresno did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for social sciences students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #7 on the list. Fresno State is a very large public school located in the city of Fresno.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Fresno State are $17,591 a year.

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University of California - Berkeley ranked #9 on this year’s Best Value Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list. Located in the medium-sized city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public school with a fairly large student population.

UC Berkeley graduate students pay an average of $29,262 in tuition and fees each year.

UC Berkeley also made our Best Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list, coming in at #3.

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University of California - San Diego came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. UCSD is a very large public school located in the city of La Jolla.

UCSD graduate students pay an average of $28,666 in tuition and fees each year.

In addition to its great value ranking, UCSD is in the top 20% of all schools on our Best Social Sciences Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list.

Full Social Sciences at University of California - San Diego Report

Best Social Sciences Colleges by State

Explore the best social sciences colleges for a specific state in the Far Western US region.

State Degrees Awarded
California 2,501
Washington 147
Oregon 280
Nevada 63
Hawaii 63
Alaska 7

Social Sciences Majors to Study

Major Annual Graduates
Economics 6,173
International Relations & National Security 5,010
Political Science & Government 2,664
Geography & Cartography 2,315
Sociology 1,907
Anthropology 1,446
Criminology 936
General Social Sciences 745
Other Social Sciences 532
Urban Studies 432
Archeology 66
Demography & Population Studies 66

Related Major Annual Graduates
Education 199,724
Psychology 42,013
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 AndrГ© KГјnzelmann.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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