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Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California

Highlighting Quality Schools With More Affordable Pricing

36 Colleges
$17,546 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$27,013 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Visual & Performing Arts School for You

Out of the majors we analyze each year, visual and performing arts was ranked 9th in California. In fact, 2,548 were awarded in the state in 2020-2021.

Today's students have lots of options to pick from when considering higher education opportunities. As online education oppotunities continue to grow, you're not restricted to just schools in your local area anymore. Even some of the 'big name' schools are offering online courses. Also, there are a number of trade schools with offerings that you might find attractive.

The Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California ranking is one of many tools that Grad Degree Search has developed to help you make your educational decision. This report analyzed 36 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value programs for visual and performing arts 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 Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Colleges.

Top 10 Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools

$7,852 Average Tuition & Fees

Our analysis found San Jose State University to be the best value school for visual and performing arts students who want to pursue a degree in California. San Jose State is a fairly large public school located in the large city of San Jose.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at San Jose State are $7,852 a year.

On top of its placing in our value ranking, San Jose State also did well on our Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California list. It’s in the top 20% of all schools reviewed in this analysis.

Read More…

$14,226 Average Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Berkeley. It ranked #2 on our 2023 Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California list. UC Berkeley is a fairly large public school located in the midsize city of Berkeley.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at UC Berkeley are $14,226 a year.

UC Berkeley also made our Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California list, coming in at #3.

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$7,043 Average Tuition & Fees

The excellent programs at California State University - Northridge helped the school earn the #3 place on this year’s ranking of the best visual and performing arts schools in California. Located in the large city of Northridge, CSUN is a public school with a very large student population.

CSUN undergraduate students pay an average of $7,043 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Visual & Performing Arts at California State University - Northridge

#4

Mount Saint Mary's University

Los Angeles, CA
$45,388 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 36 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Mount Saint Mary’s University landed the # 4 spot on the list. Located in the city of Los Angeles, MSMU is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

MSMU undergraduate students pay an average of $45,388 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Full Visual & Performing Arts at Mount Saint Mary’s University Report

$6,846 Average Tuition & Fees

Out of the 36 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Long Beach landed the # 5 spot on the list. CSULB is a very large public school located in the large city of Long Beach.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at CSULB are $6,846 per year.

Read full report on Visual & Performing Arts at California State University - Long Beach

$6,976 Average Tuition & Fees

California State University - Fullerton did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for visual and performing arts students. It came in at #6 on the list. Cal State Fullerton is a very large public school located in the large suburb of Fullerton.

Cal State Fullerton undergraduate students pay an average of $6,976 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

Read full report on Visual & Performing Arts at California State University - Fullerton

#7

San Francisco State University

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

San Francisco State University did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for visual and performing arts students. It came in at #7 on the list. Located in the large city of San Francisco, SFSU is a public school with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at SFSU are $7,304 per year.

Read full report on Visual & Performing Arts at San Francisco State University

$7,864 Average Tuition & Fees

California State University - Chico ranked #8 on this year’s Best Value Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California list. Chico State is a fairly large public school located in the city of Chico.

The average tuition and fees for an in-state undergraduate at Chico State are $7,864 a year.

Full Visual & Performing Arts at California State University - Chico Report

$6,653 Average Tuition & Fees

California State University - Fresno did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for visual and performing arts students. It came in at #9 on the list. Located in the large city of Fresno, Fresno State is a public college with a very large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at Fresno State are $6,653 per year.

Full Visual & Performing Arts at California State University - Fresno Report

$13,258 Average Tuition & Fees

University of California - Los Angeles did quite well in this year’s ranking of the best value schools for visual and performing arts students. It came in at #10 on the list. UCLA is a very large public school located in the large city of Los Angeles.

UCLA undergraduate students pay an average of $13,258 in in-state tuition and fees each year.

As a testament to the quality of education it offers, UCLA also is in the top 10% of our Best Visual & Performing Arts Schools in California ranking.

Read More…

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

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

State Degrees Awarded
Washington 130
Oregon 185
Nevada 51
Hawaii 26
Alaska 3

Visual & Performing Arts Majors to Study

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
Arts & Media Management 1,184
General Visual & Performing Arts 390
Dance 257
Other Visual Art 254
Crafts, Folk Art & Artisanry 13

Majors Similar to Visual & Performing Arts

Related Major Annual Graduates
Theology & Religious Vocations 17,287
English Language & Literature 9,566
Foreign Languages & Linguistics 4,163
Philosophy & Religious Studies 3,136
Liberal Arts / Sciences & Humanities 2,680

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 Bonnielou2013.

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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