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. 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 following list of the most affordable colleges and universities in California is composed entirely of schools offering four-year undergraduate degree programs. There are 58 colleges and universities in California that offer tuition under $16,000/year. The list below of the top 25 most affordable colleges 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 call “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.
Tuition + fees
$1K
Graduation
27%
Student body
9K
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Antelope Valley College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$1K
Graduation
26%
Student body
6K
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Solano Community College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$1K
Graduation
31%
Student body
19K
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Santa Monica College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$1K
Graduation
29%
Student body
12K
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San Diego Mesa College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$1K
Graduation
29%
Student body
12K
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Santa Ana College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$1K
Graduation
20%
Student body
12K
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Modesto Junior College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$1K
Graduation
23%
Student body
5K
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Shasta College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$1K
Graduation
22%
Student body
7K
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West Los Angeles College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$1K
Graduation
21%
Student body
15K
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Bakersfield College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$1K
Graduation
36%
Student body
10K
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MiraCosta College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$1K
Graduation
21%
Student body
10K
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Rio Hondo College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$1K
Graduation
22%
Student body
4K
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Skyline College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$1K
Graduation
30%
Student body
1K
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Feather River College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$2K
Graduation
59%
Student body
9K
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Foothill College’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
90%
Graduation
58%
Student body
21K
Median SAT/ACT
1035/19
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California State University, Fresno’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
52%
Student body
23K
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
42%
Graduation
73%
Student body
33K
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
79%
Graduation
55%
Student body
7K
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California State University Channel Islands’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
$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
78%
Graduation
59%
Student body
18K
Median SAT/ACT
1000/17
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California State University, San Bernardino’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
48%
Student body
15K
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California State University, Dominguez Hills’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
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
$8K
Acceptance
89%
Graduation
57%
Student body
10K
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California State University, Stanislaus’s faculty and alumni have been influential in:
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