2022 Best Value Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k

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 Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Musical Theater is the 489th most popular major in the country with 935 degrees awarded in 2019-2020.

Across California, there were 49 musical theater graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 20 musical theater graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

This year’s “Best Value Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k” ranking analyzed 3 colleges that offered a degree in musical theater. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent musical theater programs, but they also cost less that schools of similar quality.

When determining these rankings, we looked at things such as overall quality of the musical theater program at the school and the cost to attend the school once aid has been awarded. See our ranking methodology to learn more.

More Ways to Rank Musical Theater Schools

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 Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k” list to help you make the college decision.

In addition to our rankings, you can take two colleges and compare them based on the criteria that matters most to you in our unique tool, College Combat. Go ahead and give it a try, or bookmark the link so you can check it out later.

Best Value Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k

The colleges and universities below are the best for california bachelor’s degree musical theatre students whose families make $75-$110k.

Top 3 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Musical Theater (Income $75-$110k) in California

#1

University of California - Irvine

Irvine, California

#1 in overall quality

$19,851 Average Net Price

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend University of California - Irvine. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k list. This large school is located in Irvine, California, and it awarded 9 bachelors’s musical theatre degrees in 2019-2020.

As a testament to the quality of education offered at UC Irvine, the school also landed the #1 spot in our “Best Musical Theater Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend University of California - Irvine is $19,851 for california bachelor’s degree musical theatre students whose families make $75-$110k.

Students who start out at the school are likely to stick around. The freshman retention rate is 94%. The low 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%.

Read more about Musical Theater at UC Irvine

#2

California State University - Chico

Chico, California

#2 in overall quality

$19,444 Average Net Price

Out of the 3 schools in the Best Value Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k that were part of this year’s ranking, California State University - Chico landed the #2 spot on the list. Located in Chico, California, this fairly large public school handed out 7 degrees to qualified bachelors’s musical theatre students in 2019-2020.

Chico State also made our “Best Musical Theater Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list, coming in at #2. The estimated yearly cost for California State University - Chico is $19,444 for California Bachelor’s Degree Musical Theatre students whose families make $75-$110k.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 3.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full Chico State Musical Theater Report

#3

Vanguard University of Southern California

Costa Mesa, California

#3 in overall quality

$22,130 Average Net Price

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Vanguard University of Southern California. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Musical Theatre Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $75-$110k. Costa Mesa, California is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s musical theatre degrees to 4 students in 2019-2020.

Vanguard did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Musical Theater Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend Vanguard is $22,130 for california bachelor’s degree musical theatre students whose families make $75-$110k.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 4.0%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%.

Full Vanguard University of Southern California Musical Theater Report

• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Musical Theater (Income $75-$110k) in the Far Western US Region
• Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Musical Theater (Income $75-$110k)

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 Donald Judge.

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