2023 Best Value Colleges for Systems Engineering (Income $30-$48k) in California

When it comes to choosing a college, students have a lot of options - but not all of them are good. College Factual was founded, in part, to help students make the decision as to what would be the best school for them. Our “Best Value Systems Engineering Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Systems Engineering is the 160th most popular major in the country with 3,904 degrees awarded in 2020-2021. In 2019-2020, systems engineering graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $89,736 and had an average of $21,799 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 537 systems engineering graduates with average earnings and debt of $125,714 and $0 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Systems Engineering Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking looked at 3 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in systems engineering. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality systems engineering 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 systems engineering program at the school. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Systems Engineering Schools

The systems engineering 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 Systems Engineering Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k”.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our 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.

Best Value Systems Engineering Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Systems Engineering Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Systems Engineering (Income $30-$48k) in California

1

University of California - San Diego
La Jolla, California

#2 in overall quality

$11,176 Average Net Price

$50,251 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of California - San Diego. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Systems Engineering Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k. University of California - San Diego is a large school located in La Jolla, California that handed out 36 ’s systems engineering degrees in 2020-2021.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UCSD, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Systems Engineering Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend UCSD is $11,176 for California Systems Engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.0% 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%.

Read more about Systems Engineering at UCSD

2

University of Southern California
Los Angeles, California

#1 in overall quality

$17,345 Average Net Price

$65,044 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of Southern California. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Systems Engineering Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k. Located in Los Angeles, California, this large private not-for-profit school awarded 28 degrees to qualified ’s systems engineering students in 2020-2021.

In addition to being on our california systems engineering students whose families make $30-$48k list, USC has also earned the #1 rank in our “Best Systems Engineering Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of Southern California is $17,345 for California Systems Engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

With a freshman retention rate of 91%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.3% 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 USC Systems Engineering Report

3

Loyola Marymount University
Los Angeles, California

#3 in overall quality

$31,985 Average Net Price

$48,301 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Systems Engineering Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k that were part of this year’s ranking, Loyola Marymount University landed the #3 spot on the list. Loyola Marymount is located in Los Angeles, California and, has a fairly large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 10 ’s systems engineering degrees to qualified students.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at Loyola Marymount, the school also landed the #3 spot in our “Best Systems Engineering Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Loyola Marymount is $31,985 for california systems engineering students whose families make $30-$48k.

The undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 10 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one. The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.8%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Read full report on Systems Engineering at Loyola Marymount University

• Best Value Colleges for Systems Engineering (Income $30-$48k) in the Far Western US Region
• Best Value Colleges for Systems Engineering (Income $30-$48k)

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 luis gomes.