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Best Value Music Master's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Music Master's Degree Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

26 Colleges
$17,179 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$27,036 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Music Master's Degree School for You

With 629 degrees and certificates handed out in 2020-2021, music is the #40 most popular major in California.

There are lots of options to pick from today when trying to decide which program is right for you. 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.

To help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Grad Degree Search has developed this Best Value Music Master's Degree Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 26 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value master's degree programs for music 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 Music Master’s Degree Schools in California

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

Top 10 Best Music Master's Degree Schools

Our analysis found San Jose State University to be the best value school for music students who want to pursue a master’s degree in California. Located in the city of San Jose, San Jose State is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at San Jose State are $9,286 per year.

Read full report on Music at San Jose State University

A rank of #2 on this year’s list means California State University - East Bay is a great value for music students working on their master’s degree. Cal State East Bay is a fairly large public school located in the large suburb of Hayward.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Cal State East Bay are $8,429 per year.

Read full report on Music at California State University - East Bay

Out of the 26 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Berkeley landed the # 3 spot on the list. Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public college with a fairly large student population.

UC Berkeley graduate students pay an average of $14,160 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

UC Berkeley did well in our overall quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our Best Music Master’s Degree Schools in California list.

Full Music at University of California - Berkeley Report

The excellent master’s degree programs at California State University - Northridge helped the school earn the #4 place on this year’s ranking of the best value music schools in California. CSUN is a fairly large public school located in the large city of Northridge.

CSUN graduate students pay an average of $8,477 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Music at California State University - Northridge Report

#5

San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA

A rank of #5 on this year’s list means San Francisco State University is a great value for music students working on their master’s degree. SFSU is a fairly large public school located in the city of San Francisco.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at SFSU are $8,738 per year.

Full Music at San Francisco State University Report

California State University - Fresno did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best places for music students to get a master’s degree. It came in at #6 on the list. Fresno State is a very large public school located in the city of Fresno.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state graduate student at Fresno State are $8,087 a year.

Read More…

With a ranking of #7, University of California - Irvine did quite well on this year’s best value schools for music students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Irvine, UC Irvine is a public college with a very large student population.

UC Irvine graduate students pay an average of $13,356 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Music at University of California - Irvine

With a ranking of #8, California State University - Long Beach did quite well on this year’s best value schools for music students working on their master’s degree. Located in the large city of Long Beach, CSULB is a public college with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at CSULB are $8,280 per year.

Read More…

With a ranking of #9, California State University - Fullerton did quite well on this year’s best value schools for music students working on their master’s degree. Located in the suburb of Fullerton, Cal State Fullerton is a public school with a very large student population.

Cal State Fullerton graduate students pay an average of $8,410 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Music at California State University - Fullerton Report

University of California - Los Angeles ranked #10 on this year’s Best Value Music Master’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the city of Los Angeles, UCLA is a public school with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UCLA are $13,036 per year.

UCLA not only placed well in our value ranking, but it is also #4 on our Best Music Master’s Degree Schools in California list.

Read More…

Best Value Music Colleges in the Far Western US Region

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 63
Oregon 74
Nevada 33
Hawaii 8
Alaska 0

One of 9 majors within the area of study, music has other similar majors worth exploring.

Related Major Annual Graduates
Fine & Studio Arts 3,224
Design & Applied Arts 1,979
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 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).

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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