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2022 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Communication & Media Studies in California (With Aid)

5 Ranked Colleges
445 Degrees Awarded
$26,500 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Media Studies Schools for a Bachelor's in California For Those Getting Aid

When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Media Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Communication & Media Studies is the 74th most popular major in the country with 10,951 degrees awarded in 2019-2020.

Across California, there were 451 communication and media studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 445 communication and media studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Media Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid” ranking looked at 5 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in communication and media studies. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality communication and media studies programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

To come up with these rankings, we looked at factors such as the cost to attend the school after aid is awarded and overall quality of the communication and media studies program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Communication & Media Studies Schools

When choosing the right school for you, it’s important to arm yourself with all the facts you can. To that end, we’ve created a number of major-specific rankings, including this “Best Value Media Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid” list to help you make the college decision.

We’ve created a tool called College Combat that lets you create your own customized comparisons based on the factors that matter the most to you. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Media Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Media Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid.

Top 5 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Communication & Media Studies in California (With Aid)

#1 in overall quality

Out of the 5 schools in the Best Value Media Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Berkeley landed the #1 spot on the list. UC Berkeley is located in Berkeley, California and, has a large student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 284 bachelors’s media studies degrees to qualified students.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UC Berkeley, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for UC Berkeley is $15,329 for California Bachelor’s Degree Media Studies students with aid.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%. The student loan default rate at the school is 1.7%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full UC Berkeley Communication & Media Studies Report

#4 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - San Marcos. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Media Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid list. Located in San Marcos, California, this fairly large public school handed out 43 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s media studies students in 2019-2020.

CSUSM also made our “Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #4. The yearly cost to attend CSUSM is $13,399 for California Bachelor’s Degree Media Studies students with aid.

The low student loan default rate of 4.2% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Full CSUSM Communication & Media Studies Report

#3

Pitzer College

Claremont, California
#2 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Pitzer College. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value Media Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid list. Pitzer is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Claremont, California. It awarded 19 bachelors’s media studies degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree media studies students with aid list, Pitzer has also earned the #2 rank in our “Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $34,071 for California Bachelor’s Degree Media Studies students with aid per year to attend Pitzer College.

With a student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. The student loan default rate at the school is 3.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Communication & Media Studies at Pitzer College

#4

Point Loma Nazarene University

San Diego, California
#5 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Point Loma Nazarene University. It ranked #4 on our 2022 Best Value Media Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid list. Point Loma Nazarene University is a small private not-for-profit school situated in San Diego, California. It awarded 4 bachelors’s media studies degrees in 2019-2020.

PLNU did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #5 on our “Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend Point Loma Nazarene University is $33,044 for california bachelor’s degree media studies students with aid.

The low student loan default rate of 2.4% is a good sign that students have an easier time paying off their loans than they might at other schools. For comparison, the national default rate is 10.1%.

Full PLNU Communication & Media Studies Report

#5

University of San Francisco

San Francisco, California
#3 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of San Francisco. The school came in at #5 for the Best Value Media Studies Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Getting Aid. Located in San Francisco, California, this fairly large private not-for-profit school handed out 37 diplomas to qualified bachelors’s media studies students in 2019-2020.

USFCA did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Communication & Media Studies Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The estimated yearly cost for USFCA is $36,424 for California Bachelor’s Degree Media Studies students with aid.

The student loan default rate at the school is 2.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full University of San Francisco Communication & Media Studies Report

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Notes and References

References

  • 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 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).
  • Information about the national average student loan default rate is from the U.S. Department of Education and refers to data about the 2016 borrower cohort tracking period for which the cohort default rate (CDR) was 10.1%.

Read more about our data sources and methodologies

Footnotes

  • *Average salary, average net price, and average tuition and fees are for the top schools only.
  • Some schools otherwise deserving of recognition may have been removed from this ranking in the event that new data identified post-publication warranted it, or at the request of the school.

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