2023 Best Value Science, Tech & Society Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k

Students have lots of options to chooose from today when trying to decide which college to attend. One of our goals at College Factual is to give you as much information as we can - such as our “Best Value Science, Tech & Society Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking - to help you make that decision.

In 2020-2021, 1,095 people earned their degree in science, technology and society, making the major the 232nd most popular in the United States. In 2019-2020, science, technology and society graduates who were awarded their degree in 2017-2019, earned an average of $41,177 and had an average of $22,529 in loans still to pay off.

Across California, there were 87 science, technology and society graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Science, Tech & Society Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking, we looked at 3 colleges that offer a degree in science, technology and society. The schools that top this list are recognized because they have great science, technology and society 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 science, technology and society program at the school. Check out our ranking methodology for more information.

More Ways to Rank Science, Technology & Society Schools

Since picking the right college can be one of the most important decisions of your life, we’ve developed the “Best Value Science, Tech & Society Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking, along with many other major-related rankings, to help you make that decision.

You can create your own custom comparison that focuses on the factors most important to you using our tool, College Combat. Test it out by comparing your favorite schools against others you are considering, or bookmark the tool so you can experiment with it later.

Best Value Science, Tech & Society Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k

The following schools top our list of the Best Best Value Science, Tech & Society Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k.

Top 3 Best Value Colleges for Science, Technology & Society (Income $30-$48k) in California

1

Stanford University
Stanford, California

#1 in overall quality

$1,581 Average Net Price

$83,159 Average Early-Career Earnings

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Stanford University. It ranked #1 on our 2023 Best Value Science, Tech & Society Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k list. This fairly large school is located in Stanford, California, and it awarded 63 ’s science, tech and society degrees in 2020-2021.

Stanford did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #1 on our “Best Science, Technology & Society Schools in California” list. It costs about $1,581 for California Science, Tech & Society students whose families make $30-$48k per year to attend Stanford.

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 school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 0.5%, which is much lower than the national rate of 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.

Full Stanford University Science, Technology & Society Report

2

University of California - Davis
Davis, California

#2 in overall quality

$11,598 Average Net Price

$46,065 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Science, Tech & Society Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k that were part of this year’s ranking, University of California - Davis landed the #2 spot on the list. University of California - Davis is a large school located in Davis, California that handed out 13 ’s science, tech and society degrees in 2020-2021.

UC Davis also took the #2 spot in our “Best Science, Technology & Society Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $11,598 for california science, tech & society students whose families make $30-$48k per year to attend University of California - Davis.

The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 93%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year. 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%.

Read more about Science, Technology & Society at University of California - Davis

3

California State Polytechnic University - Pomona
Pomona, California

#3 in overall quality

$12,992 Average Net Price

$45,201 Average Early-Career Earnings

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Science, Tech & Society Schools in California For Those Making $30-$48k that were part of this year’s ranking, California State Polytechnic University - Pomona landed the #3 spot on the list. Cal Poly Pomona is a public institution located in Pomona, California. The school has a large population, and it awarded 5 ’s degrees in 2020-2021.

Cal Poly Pomona also took the #3 spot in our “Best Science, Technology & Society Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend California State Polytechnic University - Pomona is $12,992 for California Science, Tech & Society students whose families make $30-$48k.

The school has an impressive undergrad student loan default rate. It’s only 2.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The school has an excellent freshman retention rate of 87%, which means students like the school well enough to return for a second year.

Read full report on Science, Technology & Society at California State Polytechnic University - Pomona

• Best Value Colleges for Science, Technology & Society (Income $30-$48k) in the Far Western US Region
• Best Value Colleges for Science, Technology & Society (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.