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Best Value Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

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2023 Best Value Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

14 Colleges
$36,174 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$52,263 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree School for You

Design & Applied Arts is the #91 most popular major in the country with 1,979 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

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.

Along with in-depth profiles of schools and the programs they offer, Grad Degree Search has created the Best Value Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region to help you in your search for the best school for you. This report analyzed 14 schools in the Far Western US Region to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for design 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. 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 Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region

The colleges and universities below are the best value schools for design majors pursuing a master's degree.

Top 10 Best Design & Applied Arts Master's Degree Schools

Our analysis found California State University - Long Beach to be the best value school for design and applied arts students who want to pursue a master’s degree in the Far Western US Region . CSULB is a very large public school located in the city of Long Beach.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at CSULB are $17,784 a year.

Full Design & Applied Arts at California State University - Long Beach Report

#2

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend San Francisco State University. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list. Located in the large city of San Francisco, SFSU is a public college with a very large student population.

SFSU graduate students pay an average of $18,242 in tuition and fees each year.

Full Design & Applied Arts at San Francisco State University Report

Out of the 14 schools in the Far Western US Region that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Los Angeles landed the # 3 spot on the list. UCLA is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UCLA are $28,138 a year.

UCLA also took the #5 spot in our Best Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region rankings.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at University of California - Los Angeles

A rank of #3 on this year’s list means University of Washington - Seattle Campus is a great value for design and applied arts students working on their master’s degree. Located in the city of Seattle, UW Seattle is a public school with a very large student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at UW Seattle are $30,912 a year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, UW Seattle also did well on our Best Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Full Design & Applied Arts at University of Washington - Seattle Campus Report

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Washington State University. It ranked #5 on our 2023 Best Value Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list. Wazzu is a fairly large public school located in the distant town of Pullman.

Wazzu graduate students pay an average of $28,190 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at Washington State University

#6

Academy of Art University

San Francisco, CA

Academy of Art University ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region list. Located in the large city of San Francisco, Academy of Art University is a private for-profit school with a medium-sized student population.

The average tuition and fees for an out-of-state graduate students at Academy of Art University are $28,496 a year.

Read More…

#7

University of Oregon

Eugene, OR

University of Oregon landed the #7 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree design and applied arts programs. Located in the midsize city of Eugene, UO is a public college with a very large student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at UO are $30,567 per year.

Full Design & Applied Arts at University of Oregon Report

Otis College of Art and Design landed the #8 spot in the 2023 rankings for the best value master’s degree design and applied arts programs. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, Otis College of Art and Design is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

Otis College of Art and Design graduate students pay an average of $50,950 in tuition and fees each year.

Read More…

#9

California College of the Arts

San Francisco, CA

California College of the Arts came in at #9 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. Located in the city of San Francisco, California College of the Arts is a private not-for-profit college with a small student population.

Out-of-state tuition fees for graduate students at California College of the Arts are $55,090 per year.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at California College of the Arts

#10

Laguna College of Art and Design

Laguna Beach, CA

Laguna College of Art and Design came in at #10 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Design & Applied Arts Master’s Degree Schools in the Far Western US Region ranking. Located in the rural area of Laguna Beach, LCAD is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

LCAD graduate students pay an average of $38,850 in tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Design & Applied Arts at Laguna College of Art and Design

Best Design & Applied Arts Colleges by State

Explore the best design and applied arts colleges for a specific state in the Far Western US region.

State Degrees Awarded
California 194
Washington 6
Oregon 18
Nevada 0

Design & Applied Arts is one of 9 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Music 7,675
Fine & Studio Arts 3,224
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 1,704
Drama & Theater Arts 1,699
Arts & Media Management 1,184

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 14 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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