2022 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts (Income $0-$30k) in California

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 Liberal Studies Schools for a Master’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking - to help you make that decision.

Liberal Arts is one of the most popular majors in the nation, ranking 2nd of all the majors we analyze. In 2019-2020, 365,980 degrees were awarded to students with this major.

Across California, there were 94,556 liberal arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the master’s degree level specifically, there were 42 liberal arts graduates with average earnings and debt of $60,281 and $50,119 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Liberal Studies Schools for a Master’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking, we looked at 2 colleges that offer a degree in liberal arts. This ranking identifies schools with high-quality liberal arts programs that also have a lower cost than schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the liberal arts program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

One Size Does Not Fit All

Since the program you select can have a significant impact on your future, we’ve developed a number of rankings, including this “Best Value Liberal Studies Schools for a Master’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k” list, to help you choose the best school for you.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. 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 Liberal Studies Schools for a Master’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k

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

Top 2 Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts (Income $0-$30k) in California

#1

San Diego State University

San Diego, California

#2 in overall quality

$18,658 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Liberal Studies Schools for a Master’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, San Diego State University landed the #1 spot on the list. Located in San Diego, California, this large public school awarded 13 degrees to qualified masters’s liberal studies students in 2019-2020.

SDSU also took the #2 spot in our “Best Liberal Arts Master’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at San Diego State University are $18,658, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Full San Diego State University Liberal Arts Report

#2

Saint Mary's College of California

Moraga, California

#1 in overall quality

$33,509 Avg Grad Tuition & Fees

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Saint Mary’s College of California. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Liberal Studies Schools for a Master’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k list. Saint Mary’s College of California is a private not-for-profit institution located in Moraga, California. The school has a small population, and it awarded 11 masters’s degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at SMC, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Liberal Arts Master’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. Average graduate tuition and fees at SMC are $33,509, but some majors have different tuition rates.

Read full report on Liberal Arts at SMC

• Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts (Income $0-$30k) in the Far Western US Region
• Best Value Master’s Degree Colleges for Liberal Arts (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.

Featured Liberal Arts Schools

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