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Best Value Optometry Schools in California

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2023 Best Value Optometry Schools in California

Identifying Quality Schools at More Affordable Prices

3 Colleges
$14,226 Avg Tuition & Fees*
$73,054 Avg Salary

Finding the Best Optometry 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 help you arm yourself with the information you need to make your decision, Healthcare Degree Search has developed this Best Value Optometry Schools in California ranking. Our analysis looked at 3 schools in California to see which programs offered the best value experiences for optometry students with the aim of identifying those quality schools that are more affordable than some of their counterparts.

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.

2023 Best Value Optometry Schools in California

The following schools top our list of the Best Value Optometry Colleges.

Best California Schools for Affordable Quality in Optometry

$14,226 Average Tuition & Fees

Our analysis found University of California - Berkeley to be the best value school for optometry students who want to pursue a degree in California. Located in the midsize city of Berkeley, UC Berkeley is a public school with a fairly large student population.

In-state tuition fees for undergraduate students at UC Berkeley are $14,226 per year.

In addition to its best value ranking, and one of the reasons why the school is on the list, UC Berkeley is ranked #2 for overall quality for optometry in California.

Full Optometry at University of California - Berkeley Report

The excellent programs at Western University of Health Sciences helped the school earn the #2 place on this year’s ranking of the best optometry schools in California. Western University of Health Sciences is a small private not-for-profit school located in the large suburb of Pomona.

Full Optometry at Western University of Health Sciences Report

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 Schools in California list. Located in the large suburb of Fullerton, MBKU is a private not-for-profit school with a small student population.

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Best Value Optometry Colleges in the Far Western US Region

Explore all the Best Value Optometry Schools 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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