4
Ranked Colleges
428
Degrees Awarded
$26,000
Avg Net Price*
When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. 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 in California For Those Getting Aid” ranking - to help you make that decision.
Communication & Media Studies is the 82nd most popular major in the country with 10,266 degrees awarded in 2020-2021.
Across California, there were 428 communication and media studies graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.
This year’s “Best Value Media Studies Schools in California For Those Getting Aid” ranking looked at 4 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in communication and media studies. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great communication and media studies programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.
When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the communication and media studies program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. See our ranking methodology to learn more.
One Size Does Not Fit All
Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Media Studies Schools in California For Those Getting Aid” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.
In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Test it out when you get a chance! You may also want to bookmark the link and share it with others who are trying to make the college decision.
The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Media Studies Schools in California For Those Getting Aid.
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Berkeley. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Best Value Media Studies Schools in California For Those Getting Aid list. University of California - Berkeley is a public institution located in Berkeley, California. The school has a large population, and it awarded 268 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
UC Berkeley not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #1 on our “Best Communication & Media Studies Schools in California” list. It costs about $16,032 for california media studies students with aid per year to attend UC Berkeley.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.8% 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%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
Read more about Communication & Media Studies at UC Berkeley
Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Media Studies Schools in California For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - San Marcos landed the #2 spot on the list. CSUSM is located in San Marcos, California and, has a fairly large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 26 ’s media studies degrees to qualified students.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at CSUSM, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Communication & Media Studies Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend California State University - San Marcos is $13,218 for california media studies students with aid.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 3.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Read full report on Communication & Media Studies at CSUSM
You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Point Loma Nazarene University. It ranked #3 on our 2023 Best Value Media Studies Schools in California For Those Getting Aid list. San Diego, California is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s media studies degrees to 13 students in 2020-2021.
PLNU also made our “Best Communication & Media Studies Schools in California” list, coming in at #4. It costs about $34,575 for california media studies students with aid per year to attend PLNU.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.
Full PLNU Communication & Media Studies Report
Out of the 4 schools in the Best Value Media Studies Schools in California For Those Getting Aid that were part of this year’s ranking, University of San Francisco landed the #4 spot on the list. San Francisco, California is the setting for this fairly large institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s media studies degrees to 51 students in 2020-2021.
USFCA did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Communication & Media Studies Schools in California” list. The estimated yearly cost for USFCA is $40,053 for California Media Studies students with aid.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Read more about Communication & Media Studies at USFCA
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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
- *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.
Credits