2023 Best Value Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k
9
Ranked Colleges
1,054
Degrees Awarded
$15,100
Avg Net Price*
When pursuing a degree in today’s world, students have many different options to choose from. 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 Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking is part of that endeavor.
In 2020-2021, 6,874 people earned their degree in legal research, making the major the 114th most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, legal research graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $66,544 and had an average of $26,000 in loans still to pay off.
Across California, there were 1,054 legal research graduates with average earnings and debt of $75,122 and $0 respectively.
This year’s “Best Value Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking looked at 9 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in legal research. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great legal research programs and cost less that 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 legal research program at the school. See our ranking methodology to learn more.
One Size Does Not Fit All
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 Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k” list to help you make the college decision.
One of our other unique offerings is College Combat. This tool lets you build your own customized comparisons utilizing the factors that are most important to you. If you’re torn between two schools, you can use it to help you see how they stack up against one another. Bookmark it so you can compare any new schools that might interest you.
Best Value Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k
The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k.
Top 9 Best Value Colleges for Legal Research (Income $0-$30k) in California
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Stanford University. The school came in at #1 for the Best Value Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k. Stanford University is a fairly large school located in Stanford, California that handed out 20 ’s legal research degrees in 2020-2021.
Stanford also took the #3 spot in our “Best Legal Research Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for Stanford is $1,233 for California Legal Research students whose families make $0-$30k.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 86%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.5% 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 impressive undergraduate student-to-faculty ratio of 4 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools.
Read full report on Legal Research at Stanford University
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of California - Berkeley. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k. University of California - Berkeley is located in Berkeley, California and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 125 ’s legal research degrees to qualified students.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at UC Berkeley, the school also landed the #2 spot in our “Best Legal Research Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend UC Berkeley is $8,450 for California Legal Research students whose families make $0-$30k.
Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 96%. 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%.
Read more about Legal Research at University of California - Berkeley
You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend University of California - Los Angeles. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k. University of California - Los Angeles is located in Los Angeles, California and, has a large student population. In 2020-2021, this school awarded 43 ’s legal research degrees to qualified students.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at UCLA, the school also landed the #5 spot in our “Best Legal Research Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for UCLA is $9,037 for California Legal Research students whose families make $0-$30k.
The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 96%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. The low undergrad student loan default rate of 1.6% 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 full report on Legal Research at University of California - Los Angeles
Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of Southern California landed the #4 spot on the list. Located in Los Angeles, California, this large private not-for-profit school handed out 354 degrees to qualified ’s legal research students in 2020-2021.
USC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Legal Research Schools in California” list. It costs about $17,287 for California Legal Research students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend USC.
With a freshman retention rate of 91%, the school does an excellent job of retaining its undergraduate students. 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%. With a undergrad student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.
Read full report on Legal Research at USC
Out of the 9 schools in the Best Value Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Irvine landed the #5 spot on the list. University of California - Irvine is a large school located in Irvine, California that handed out 22 ’s legal research degrees in 2020-2021.
As a testament to the quality of education offered at UC Irvine, the school also landed the #10 spot in our “Best Legal Research Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for UC Irvine is $6,540 for california legal research students whose families make $0-$30k.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.4%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 94%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
Read full report on Legal Research at UC Irvine
University of California - Davis ranked #6 on this year’s Best Value Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k list. UC Davis is a large public school situated in Davis, California. It awarded 30 ’s legal research degrees in 2020-2021.
UC Davis not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #9 on our “Best Legal Research Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend UC Davis is $10,006 for California Legal Research students whose families make $0-$30k.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 1.5%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
Full UC Davis Legal Research Report
University of San Diego ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k list. San Diego, California is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out ’s legal research degrees to 38 students in 2020-2021.
USD did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #4 on our “Best Legal Research Schools in California” list. The estimated yearly cost for University of San Diego is $21,951 for california legal research students whose families make $0-$30k.
The undergrad student loan default rate at the school is 1.9%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.
Read full report on Legal Research at USD
With a ranking of #8, Santa Clara University did quite well on the 2023 Best Value Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k list. Santa Clara University is a private not-for-profit institution located in Santa Clara, California. The school has a medium-sized population, and it awarded 17 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.
In addition to being on our california legal research students whose families make $0-$30k list, SCU has also earned the #6 rank in our “Best Legal Research Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for SCU is $26,428 for California Legal Research students whose families make $0-$30k.
The low undergrad student loan default rate of 0.7% 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 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
Read full report on Legal Research at SCU
Chapman University did quite well in the 2023 Best Value Legal Research Schools in California For Those Making $0-$30k ranking, coming in at #9. This medium-sized school is located in Orange, California, and it awarded 15 ’s legal research degrees in 2020-2021.
Chapman also took the #11 spot in our “Best Legal Research Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Chapman is $34,946 for California Legal Research students whose families make $0-$30k.
The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.1%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 85%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.
Read more about Legal Research at Chapman University
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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.
