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Best Value Optometry Doctor's Degree Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Optometry Doctor's Degree Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

3 Colleges
$25,092 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$88,635 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Optometry Doctor's Degree School for You

In 2020-2021, 256 degrees and certificates were awarded to optometry students who went to a California college or university. This makes it the #18 most popular major in the state.

It's not easy to decide which healthcare program to enroll in when you have so many options available. You can choose a traditional brick and mortar school, or with the growth of online education, you can attend a school half-way across the country without even leaving your house. Also there are many trade schools that offer short-term programs that open up more career options.

To assist you in seeing some of the education options that are available to you, Healthcare Degree Search has created its Best Value Optometry Doctor's Degree Schools in California ranking. This report analyzed 3 schools in California to see which ones offered the best value doctor's degree programs for optometry students. The goal was to highlight schools with more affordable prices than others offering similar quality experiences.

This ranking is not just a list of inexpensive schools. We also consider each school's quality, since we believe a low-quality school may not be a 'bargain' at any price. More specifically, we discount our quality score by the published tuition and fees charged by a school. This gives the cost per unit of quality for each college. The value is determined by how much quality your dollar buys.

For nationwide and regional rankings, we use out-of-state tuition and fees in our calculations. Average in-state tuition and fees are used for our statewide rankings.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality for a Doctorate in Optometry

Our 2023 rankings named University of California - Berkeley the best value school in California for optometry students working on their doctor’s degree. Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at UC Berkeley are $14,160 per year.

Read full report on Optometry at University of California - Berkeley

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Out of the 3 schools in California that were part of this year’s ranking, Western University of Health Sciences landed the # 2 spot on the list. Western University of Health Sciences is a small private not-for-profit school located in the suburb of Pomona.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at Western University of Health Sciences are $22,709 per year.

Read full report on Optometry at Western University of Health Sciences

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You’ll join some of the best and brightest minds around you if you attend Marshall B Ketchum University. The school came in at #3 on this year’s Best Value Optometry Doctor’s Degree Schools in California list. Located in the large suburb of Fullerton, MBKU is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

In-state tuition fees for graduate students at MBKU are $38,408 per year.

Full Optometry at Marshall B Ketchum University Report

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Best Value Optometry Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Optometry Colleges in the Far Western US Area or other specific states within that region.

State Degrees Awarded
Oregon 88

One of 30 majors within the healthcare area of study, optometry has other similar majors worth exploring.

Optometry Focus Areas

Major Annual Graduates
Optometry 1,822

Majors Similar to Optometry

Related Major Annual Graduates
Nursing 322,592
Health & Medical Administrative Services 89,359
Allied Health & Medical Assisting Services 84,492
Practical Nursing & Nursing Assistants 84,274
Allied Health Professions 82,308

Notes and References

*These averages are for the top 3 schools only.

  • 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 the rest 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).

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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