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2022 Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k

8 Ranked Colleges
174 Degrees Awarded
$32,500 Avg Net Price*
Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor's in California For Those Making $30-$48k

With all of the options students have for higher education today, it can be tough to choose which direction to take. 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 Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking is part of that endeavor.

Photography is the 291st most popular major in the country with 2,438 degrees awarded in 2019-2020.

Across California, there were 461 photography graduates with average earnings and debt of $0 and $0 respectively. At the bachelor’s degree level specifically, there were 174 photography graduates with average earnings and debt of $37,907 and $21,546 respectively.

For this year’s “Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k” ranking, we looked at 8 colleges that offer a degree in photography. Not only do the schools that top this list have excellent photography programs, but they also 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 photography program at the school. 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 Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k” 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 Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k

The colleges and universities below are the best for california bachelor’s degree photography students whose families make $30-$48k.

Top 8 Best Value Bachelor’s Degree Colleges for Photography (Income $30-$48k) in California

#5 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California State University - Sacramento. It ranked #1 on our 2022 Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k list. Sacramento, California is the setting for this large institution of higher learning. The public school handed out bachelors’s photography degrees to 31 students in 2019-2020.

Sac State also took the #5 spot in our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend Sac State is $7,823 for california bachelor’s degree photography students whose families make $30-$48k.

The low student loan default rate of 4.6% 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%.

Full Sac State Photography Report

#2

California College of the Arts

San Francisco, California
#4 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend California College of the Arts. It ranked #2 on our 2022 Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k list. San Francisco, California is the setting for this small institution of higher learning. The private not-for-profit school handed out bachelors’s photography degrees to 10 students in 2019-2020.

California College of the Arts also took the #4 spot in our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for California College of the Arts is $32,503 for California Bachelor’s Degree Photography students whose families make $30-$48k.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 4.3%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. With a student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.

Full California College of the Arts Photography Report

#3

Pacific Union College

Angwin, California
#7 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Pacific Union College. The school came in at #3 for the Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k. PUC is a small private not-for-profit school situated in Angwin, California. It awarded 1 bachelors’s photography degrees in 2019-2020.

PUC did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #7 on our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The yearly cost to attend PUC is $16,984 for california bachelor’s degree photography students whose families make $30-$48k.

Read full report on Photography at PUC

#4

Academy of Art University

San Francisco, California
#1 in overall quality

You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around if you attend Academy of Art University. The school came in at #4 for the Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k. San Francisco, California is the setting for this medium-sized institution of higher learning. The private for-profit school handed out bachelors’s photography degrees to 47 students in 2019-2020.

Academy of Art University also took the #1 spot in our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. It costs about $34,125 for california bachelor’s degree photography students whose families make $30-$48k per year to attend Academy of Art University.

Full Academy of Art University Photography Report

#5

Art Center College of Design

Pasadena, California
#2 in overall quality

You’ll be in good company if you decide to attend Art Center College of Design. It ranked #5 on our 2022 Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k list. Art Center College of Design is a private not-for-profit institution located in Pasadena, California. The school has a small population, and it awarded 30 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

Art Center College of Design did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #2 on our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. It costs about $42,394 for California Bachelor’s Degree Photography students whose families make $30-$48k per year to attend Art Center College of Design.

Since the school has a student-to-faculty ratio of 8 to 1, those pursuing a degree will have more opportunities to interact with their professors. The student loan default rate at the school is 1.1%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Read more about Photography at Art Center College of Design

#6

California Institute of the Arts

Valencia, California
#3 in overall quality

California Institute of the Arts landed the #6 spot on the 2022 Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k ranking. CalArts is a private not-for-profit institution located in Valencia, California. The school has a small population, and it awarded 14 bachelors’s degrees in 2019-2020.

CalArts did well in our major quality rankings, too. It placed #3 on our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” list. The estimated yearly cost for California Institute of the Arts is $42,784 for california bachelor’s degree photography students whose families make $30-$48k.

The school has an impressive student loan default rate. It’s only 4.6%, which is much lower than the national rate of 10.1%. The student-to-faculty ratio of 5 to 1 is a sign that students will have more opportunities to engage with their professors one-on-one.

Full CalArts Photography Report

#7

San Francisco Art Institute

San Francisco, California
#6 in overall quality

San Francisco Art Institute ranked #7 on this year’s Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k list. SFAI is a small private not-for-profit school situated in San Francisco, California. It awarded 13 bachelors’s photography degrees in 2019-2020.

SFAI also took the #6 spot in our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The estimated yearly cost for SFAI is $39,994 for california bachelor’s degree photography students whose families make $30-$48k.

With a student-to-faculty ratio of 3 to 1, it’s easy to see that the school is committed to helping their undergraduates succeed.

Read more about Photography at SFAI

#8

New York Film Academy

Burbank, California
#8 in overall quality

New York Film Academy came in at #8 in this year’s edition of the Best Value Photography Schools for a Bachelor’s in California For Those Making $30-$48k ranking. This small school is located in Burbank, California, and it awarded 18 bachelors’s photography degrees in 2019-2020.

In addition to being on our california bachelor’s degree photography students whose families make $30-$48k list, New York Film Academy has also earned the #8 rank in our “Best Photography Bachelor’s Degree Schools in California” ranking. The yearly cost to attend New York Film Academy is $43,325 for California Bachelor’s Degree Photography students whose families make $30-$48k.

The impressive student-to-faculty ratio of 9 to 1 means that students may have more opportunities to work more closely with their professors than they would at other schools. The student loan default rate at the school is 2.5%, which is quite low when compared to the national default rate of 10.1%.

Full New York Film Academy Photography Report

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.

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