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

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

Marine Science is the 304th most popular major in the country with 312 degrees awarded in 2019-2020. In 2017-2018, marine science graduates who were awarded their degree in 2015-2017, earned an average of $28,200 and had an average of $21,630 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 115 marine science graduates with average earnings and debt of $28,200 and $17,259 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 96 marine science graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Marine Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k” ranking looked at 2 colleges that offer degrees in a bachelor’s in marine science. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great marine science programs and cost less that schools of similar quality.

Some of the factors we look at when determining these rankings are overall quality of the marine science program at the school and the cost of the school after aid is awarded among other things. For more information, check out our ranking methodology.

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 Marine Science Schools for a Bachelor’s 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. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

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

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

Top 2 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Marine Science (Income $0-$30k) in California

#1

University of California - Davis

Davis, California

#1 in overall quality

$9,842 Average Net Price

Out of the 2 schools in the Best Value Marine Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Davis landed the #1 spot on the list. UC Davis is a large school located in Davis, California that handed out 19 bachelors’s marine science degrees in 2019-2020.

UC Davis also took the #1 spot in our “Best Marine Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for University of California - Davis is $9,842 for California Bachelor’s Degree Marine Science students whose families make $0-$30k.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 93%. The 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 more about Marine Science at UC Davis

#2

California State University - Monterey Bay

Seaside, California

#2 in overall quality

$7,688 Average Net Price

$28,960 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend California State University - Monterey Bay. The school came in at #2 for the Best Value Marine Science Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $0-$30k. California State University - Monterey Bay is located in Seaside, California and, has a medium-sized student population. In 2019-2020, this school awarded 57 bachelors’s marine science degrees to qualified students.

CSUMB not only placed well in this ranking. It is also #2 on our “Best Marine Science Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. It costs about $7,688 for California Bachelor’s Degree Marine Science students whose families make $0-$30k per year to attend CSUMB.

The low student loan default rate of 5.0% 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%.

Full CSUMB Marine Science Report

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

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