Here are the most affordable colleges and universities in California. Our list will help you find the right kind of school for you, at a price you can afford.
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. There are over 30 high quality online degrees programs that would literally allow you to study from anywhere in California, or the world. 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.
The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great! 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 in their fields of study.
Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Concentrated Influence provides a ranking that is freer from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.
To rank the influence of schools, we first determine the influence of scholars and professionals based on the number of citations and publications they have had over the past 10 years. In addition to publications and citations, we consider the web links to and from these sources, and the page views of those sources. We then match the influential people to their alma maters and institutions of employment, so that their influence is attributed to those schools. Our machine-learning Influence Ranking algorithm produces a numerical score of academic achievements, merits, and citations across Wikipedia, wikidata, Crossref, Semantic Scholar and an ever-growing body of data. If you are interested in exploring how and why we rank by influence, explore our methodology in more depth.
There are 59 colleges and universities in California with stated tuitions and fees under $20,000/year. The following list of the most affordable colleges and universities in California is composed entirely of schools offering bachelor’s degree programs, have stated tuition and fees near or under the national average of $16,000/year, and are fully accredited colleges.
These schools are ranked by academic excellence, and all under $20,000/year.
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
17%
Graduation
92%
Student body
43K
Median SAT/ACT
1430/33
University of California, Berkeley’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
14%
Graduation
91%
Student body
45K
Median SAT/ACT
1415/32
University of California, Los Angeles’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
37%
Graduation
87%
Student body
39K
Median SAT/ACT
1370/30
University of California, San Diego’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
37%
Graduation
84%
Student body
27K
Median SAT/ACT
1355/30
University of California, Santa Barbara’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
30%
Graduation
85%
Student body
38K
Median SAT/ACT
1295/28
University of California, Irvine’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$15K
Acceptance
46%
Graduation
86%
Student body
37K
Median SAT/ACT
1290/28
University of California, Davis’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
76%
Student body
20K
Median SAT/ACT
1290/29
University of California, Santa Cruz’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
77%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1230/26
University of California, Riverside’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
37%
Graduation
76%
Student body
34K
Median SAT/ACT
1215/25
San Diego State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
55%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1045/20
San Francisco State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
66%
Student body
30K
Median SAT/ACT
1140/22
San Jose State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
66%
Graduation
55%
Student body
33K
Median SAT/ACT
1020/19
California State University, Northridge’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
69%
Student body
34K
Median SAT/ACT
1115/21
California State University, Fullerton’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
52%
Student body
23K
Median SAT/ACT
985/17
California State University, Los Angeles’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
42%
Graduation
73%
Student body
33K
Median SAT/ACT
1145/23
California State University, Long Beach’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
58%
Student body
21K
Median SAT/ACT
1035/19
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
California State University, Chico’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$13K
Student body
1K
Golden Gate University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
83%
Graduation
54%
Student body
28K
Median SAT/ACT
1040/19
California State University, Sacramento’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
38%
Graduation
83%
Student body
21K
Median SAT/ACT
1340/29
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
67%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1140/23
California State Polytechnic University, Pomona’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
47%
Student body
14K
California State University, East Bay’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
89%
Graduation
60%
Student body
8K
Median SAT/ACT
1070/20
Sonoma State University’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
69%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1090/22
University of California, Merced’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$1K
Graduation
31%
Student body
19K
Santa Monica College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in: