2022 Best Value IS Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k

It’s not easy to decide which college to attend when there so many options available for students. College Factual has developed its “Best Value IS Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking as one item you can use to help make this decision.

Information Science is the 56th most popular major in the country with 18,368 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, information science graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $58,848 and had an average of $32,600 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 429 information science graduates with average earnings and debt of $83,550 and $37,755 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 32 information science graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value IS Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in information science. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent information science programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the information science program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Information Science Schools

The is school you choose to invest your time and money in matters. To help you make the decision that is right for you, we’ve developed a number of major-specific rankings, including this list of “Best Value IS Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k”.

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. We encourage you to try it out and pit your favorite colleges and universities head to head! If you don’t have time right now, you can bookmark it for later.

Best Value IS Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value IS Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Information Science (Income $0-$30k) in California

#1

California Institute of Technology

Pasadena, California

#1 in overall quality

$5,456 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California Institute of Technology. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value IS Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k list. California Institute of Technology is located in Pasadena, California and, has a small student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 1 bachelors’s IS degrees to qualified students.

Caltech also made our “Best Information Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #1. The estimated yearly cost for Caltech is $5,456 for California Bachelor’s Degree IS students whose families make $0-$30k.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. With a student-to-faculty ratio of 3 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed. The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 1.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Information Science at Caltech

#2

University of California - Riverside

Riverside, California

#2 in overall quality

$8,366 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value IS Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Riverside landed the #2 spot on the list. University of California - Riverside is a large public school situated in Riverside, California. It awarded 26 bachelors’s IS degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UCR, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Information Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $8,366 for California Bachelor’s Degree IS students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend University of California - Riverside.

The student loan default rate at the school is 2.1%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%. Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 91%.

Full UCR Information Science Report

#3

California Lutheran University

Thousand Oaks, California

#3 in overall quality

$18,173 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California Lutheran University. It ranked #3 on our 2022 Best Value IS Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k list. California Lutheran University is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Thousand Oaks, California. It awarded 5 bachelors’s IS degrees in 2019-2020.

CLU also made our “Best Information Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #3. The estimated yearly cost for CLU is $18,173 for California Bachelor’s Degree IS students whose families make $0-$30k.

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%.

Read full report on Information Science at California Lutheran University

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Information Science (Income $0-$30k) in the Far Western US Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Information Science (Income $0-$30k)

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.

Credits

• Credit for the banner image above goes to The Opte Project.

Featured Information Systems Schools

Request Info

Southern New Hampshire University You have goals. Southern New Hampshire University can help you get there. Whether you need a bachelor's degree to get into a career or want a master's degree to move up in your current career, SNHU has an online program for you. Find your degree from over 200 online programs ... Learn More >