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Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California

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2023 Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

5 Colleges
$24,433 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$26,951 Avg Salary

Finding the Best General Visual & Performing Arts School for You

General Visual & Performing Arts is the #155 most popular major in California with 61 degrees and certificates awarded in 2020-2021.

There are so many programs in today's world that it can tough to figure out which one is the right one 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.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Grad Degree Search has developed this Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 5 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value programs for visual arts students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. 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.

For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. For statewide rankings, we use average in-state tuition and fees.

2023 Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California

Check out the visual arts programs at these schools if you want to get the best value for your educational dollar.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality in General Visual & Performing Arts

$6,785 Average Tuition & Fees

Our 2023 rankings named California State University - Los Angeles the best value school in California for general visual and performing arts students. Located in the city of Los Angeles, Cal State LA is a public college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Cal State LA are $6,785 per year.

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$14,700 Average Tuition & Fees

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means University of California - San Diego is a great value for general visual and performing arts students. Located in the large 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.

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$13,754 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at University of California - Riverside helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best general visual and performing arts schools in California. UCR is a fairly large public school located in the city of Riverside.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UCR are $13,754 per year.

Read full report on General Visual & Performing Arts at University of California - Riverside

#4

Academy of Art University

San Francisco, CA
$25,424 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Academy of Art University. The school came in at #4 on this year’s Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California list. Located in the large city of San Francisco, Academy of Art University is a private for-profit school with a moderately-sized student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Academy of Art University are $25,424 per year.

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$61,503 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 5 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Southern California landed the # 5 spot on the list. Located in the large city of Los Angeles, USC is a private not-for-profit college with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at USC are $61,503 per year.

USC also claimed a spot on our Best General Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California list. It’s in the top 10% of all schools in this category.

Read full report on General Visual & Performing Arts at University of Southern California

Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value General Visual & Performing Arts Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Oregon 0

General Visual & Performing Arts is one of 9 different types of programs to choose from.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Music 7,675
Fine & Studio Arts 3,224
Design & Applied Arts 1,979
Film, Video & Photographic Arts 1,704
Drama & Theater Arts 1,699

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).
  • Credit for the banner image above goes to Sven Mandel / CC-BY-SA-4.0.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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