Public colleges and universities account for almost 75 percent of all undergraduate students in the U.S. The best public colleges in California provide broad access to reputable degree programs, affordable tuition, and sprawling educational communities.
California’s higher education institutes span across the entire state, allowing students to study by the beach, in the forest, in small towns, and in large cities. The largest university, the University of California, Los Angeles, serves nearly 44,000 students and offers a tuition rate around $13,000. This isn’t the only school with a large student body though. California is home to 23 colleges and universities with student populations of over 20,000 students.
Find college admissions consultants in your state.
However, more than half of the state’s schools serve smaller student populations, offering plenty of options for students who crave a more intimate campus experience. Additionally, California boasts 50 religiously affiliated schools. Many of these schools have high graduation rates, though tuition costs can range greatly, from $8,000 at Bethesda University up to $54,000 at Pepperdine University.
Additionally, many of California’s colleges and universities boast influential faculty and alumni, including Neil Armstrong, Jerry Lewis, and Weird Al
Yankovic. In addition to famous alumni and professors, California’s schools are also home to some of the country’s top degree programs, including nursing, business, religious studies, education, literature, and law.
Though Hollywood has given an inside look into California’s most popular landmarks and attractions, these one-of-a-kind places aren’t the only reason people flock to The Golden State. With hundreds of colleges and universities to choose from, students have countless opportunities to further their education in California.
To learn more about earning your degree in California, check out some of the state’s top programs and career paths.
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Public and private colleges and universities operate under different business models — one is a private company with private funding; the other is owned by the state and receives both state and federal funding to operate. If you’re weighing the pros and cons of private vs. public college, consider that many public colleges provide diverse course offerings, influential professors, and an excellent return on your investment.
Public colleges are schools that receive most of their funding from tax revenues. As a result, the cost of a four-year degree at a public university is often lower than the equivalent cost at a private college — especially for students attending a public school in their home state. According to the National Center for Educational Statistics, the average annual cost (tuition, fees, room and board for full-time students) at a four-year public university was slightly over $20,000. In contrast, private universities cost, on average, nearly $43,000 annually.
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This list is composed entirely of public colleges and universities that offer four-year undergraduate degrees. We’ve identified 46 public universities in California. The list below of the 25 best public universities in the state satisfies the following three conditions:
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why, at the undergraduate level, we rank the best colleges and universities based on what we “Concentrated Influence”. Concentrated Influence takes the combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers (including faculty and alums) and divides it by the school’s total number of undergraduates.
Using concentrated influence gives small and mid-sized schools an opportunity to shine by taking away the size advantage of larger universities. A small school with proportionately more influential faculty than a large school, whose influence in absolute terms may be bigger, will nonetheless score higher in a concentrated influence ranking. Our approach highlights undergraduate schools that truly rank for excellence, regardless of size.
If you are serious about finding the best colleges and universities for a bachelor’s degree, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching and whether their graduates are themselves advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
Find out more about our ranking methodology here.
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Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
17%
Graduation
92%
Student body
42K
Median SAT/ACT
1430/33
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University of California, Berkeley’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
14%
Graduation
91%
Student body
44K
Median SAT/ACT
1415/32
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University of California, Los Angeles’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
37%
Graduation
87%
Student body
38K
Median SAT/ACT
1370/30
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University of California, San Diego’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
37%
Graduation
84%
Student body
26K
Median SAT/ACT
1355/30
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University of California, Santa Barbara’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
76%
Student body
20K
Median SAT/ACT
1290/29
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University of California, Santa Cruz’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
46%
Graduation
86%
Student body
36K
Median SAT/ACT
1290/28
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University of California, Davis’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
30%
Graduation
85%
Student body
37K
Median SAT/ACT
1295/28
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University of California, Irvine’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
77%
Student body
24K
Median SAT/ACT
1230/26
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University of California, Riverside’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
69%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1090/22
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University of California, Merced’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
55%
Student body
26K
Median SAT/ACT
1045/20
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San Francisco State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
37%
Graduation
76%
Student body
33K
Median SAT/ACT
1215/25
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San Diego State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
66%
Student body
29K
Median SAT/ACT
1140/22
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San Jose State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
52%
Student body
24K
Median SAT/ACT
985/17
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California State University, Los Angeles’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
55%
Student body
33K
Median SAT/ACT
1020/19
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California State University, Northridge’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
42%
Graduation
73%
Student body
32K
Median SAT/ACT
1145/23
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California State University, Long Beach’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
86%
Graduation
60%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1062/20
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California State University, Monterey Bay’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
69%
Student body
34K
Median SAT/ACT
1115/21
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California State University, Fullerton’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
38%
Graduation
83%
Student body
21K
Median SAT/ACT
1340/29
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California Polytechnic State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
49%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1085/21
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Humboldt State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
89%
Graduation
60%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1070/20
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Sonoma State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
61%
Student body
1K
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California State University Maritime Academy’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
47%
Student body
14K
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California State University, East Bay’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
83%
Graduation
54%
Student body
27K
Median SAT/ACT
1040/19
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California State University, Sacramento’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
58%
Student body
22K
Median SAT/ACT
1035/19
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California State University, Fresno’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
65%
Student body
16K
Median SAT/ACT
1090/21
View profile
California State University, Chico’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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