Top 15 Cheapest Colleges in California (2023)

FAQs

What is #1 College California? ›

University of California, Berkeley.

You need to be a California resident to receive "free" community college or qualify for an exemption. California resident youths who are homeless and those who have nonresident tuition fees under Assembly Bill 540, such as undocumented students, may be eligible for tuition waivers.

The easiest colleges to get into in California include the Academy of Art University, California State University-Fresno, California Northstate University, Azusa Pacific University, Sonoma State University, California State University-Channel Island, and California State University-Monterey Bay.

If you receive one C during your high school years, it may ultimately affect your chances of getting into a top school. However, it won't automatically exclude you from one. Instead, it will make earning an acceptance a little harder for you, as you'll have to compensate in other areas.

C = Average. This is the basic level that all professors expect of college students. When students turn in C-level work, they have answered all questions at the minimum level expected for competency in the course, but they have not pressed beyond that point.

According to Forbes, UCLA is considered a most selective school with an acceptance rate of 12%. Over 139,000 students applied for the UCLA Class of 2025. Of those applicants, UCLA admissions accepted roughly 31,000 students. Although there are no set UCLA GPA requirements, the average GPA sits around 3.95.

Is a cheap college worth it? ›

While a cheap degree is not always a bad degree, it might not be the best type of degree to earn when you want to get a professional license or become a graduate student. Prospective students should never put price first when they are choosing where they will get a college education.

UC's Blue and Gold Opportunity Plan will ensure that you will not have to pay UC's systemwide tuition and fees out of your own pocket if you are a California resident whose total family income is less than $80,000 a year and you qualify for financial aid — and that's just for starters.

Why are CSU schools cheaper than UC schools? UC schools charge around $13,000 in tuition per year, while CSU schools charge around $5,700 per year.

2023-2024 academic year UC tuition for CA students. You can expect your tuition to stay the same for up to six years. Californians, if your family's income is in this range and you qualify for financial aid, you won't pay any tuition.

CA Residents 60 Years of Age or Older.

The California College Promise Grant pays community college fees for low-income California residents attending community college in the state. This grant is available regardless of the number of units the student takes (e.g., you aren't cut off after two years).

“Free college” really means free tuition. Students would still have to pay for room and board, along with other costs of attendance such as transportation, books and supplies. The average cost for room and board is $11,386 at a four-year school and $7,636 at a two-year school, according to federal data.

Many of these schools were nationally ranked for their academics as well. Clemson University was our number one most fun college, but only appeared on five of the 12 Princeton Review lists we considered.

The hardest Cal State to get into is the Cal Poly San Luis, Obispo. It has an acceptance rate of 28%, the lowest among CSUs. It also has the highest average SAT score requirement of 1340 and an average ACT score of 29, also the highest among the CSUs.

With a record-low admission rate of just 3.19% for the class of 2026, Harvard currently ranks as the most difficult school to get into.

Is a 2.16 GPA good? ›

The answer is No. The national average for a GPA is around 3.0 and a 2.1 GPA puts you below that average.

Depending on your college's GPA scale, that can mean anything below a 1.0 or 0.7 GPA counts as a failed class. If you fail a class, you'll get a 0 on your transcript — and that can bring down your GPA. Failed classes count toward your GPA, though some colleges do not count pass/fail classes in your GPA calculation.

The failing grade will NOT calculate in your GPA, but it will still show on your transcript. On your transcript, an "E" will show to the right of your failing grade to mark the course as "Excluded". On your transcript, an "I" will show to the right of the second time you took the class, marking it as "Included".

Whether college gets easier or harder is a completely personal opinion, but for most, college does seem to get easier as time goes by, even though course material might become harder and more complicated. Most students battle in the first year of college with adjusting to their new way of life.

A 'B' is an above average grade. Used properly grades are an indicator for you what what you have to learn. Go and learn it.

A pass in an AS subject is indicated by one of five grades A(a), B(b), C(c), D(d), E(e), of which grade A(a) is the highest and grade E (e) is the lowest. grade N indicates that the student's performance fell short of the standard required for grade E (e) by a narrow margin.

UCLA GPA Requirements

At a minimum, you must earn a 3.0 GPA or better (3.4 for nonresidents) in all college preparatory courses. No grades can be lower than a C.

You must have a 3.0 GPA (3.4 for non-residents) or higher and no grades lower than a C in required high school courses. You can also substitute SAT subject tests for courses. If you don't meet the requirements, it is possible to gain admission with a high enough score on the ACT/SAT plus on two SAT subject tests.

What is the number 1 Cal State? ›

There are several inexpensive cities to live in Southern California such as Rancho Cucamonga, Yucca Valley, San Bernardino, and Bakersfield where the cost of living is relatively low. It is easier to find cheap places in Imperial county in Southern California.

Located in North Dakota's capital city, Bismarck State College tops the list of colleges with the highest acceptance rates. The third-largest institution in the state's public university system, BSC serves approximately 4,000 students each year. The school accepts 100% of applicants.

Unofficially, 2.0 is the lowest GPA accepted into a standard college, so while there's a chance that college admission is possible, it's not likely at more than a few institutions.

It shouldn't surprise you that organic chemistry takes the No. 1 spot as the hardest college course. This course is often referred to as the “pre-med killer” because it actually has caused many pre-med majors to switch their major.

The rental cost of living off-campus is cheaper than the price of a room or bed in the school, although additional running costs on utility, furniture, and fixtures might eventually scale up the cost of living outside the campus and bring it to par and sometimes more than the cost of college dorms.

The California Constitution has guaranteed children in our state a system of free schools since 1879.

Cal Grant A covers four years of full tuition at a California public college (or $9,084 of nonprofit private college tuition per year). In 2022–23, Cal Grant B, which provides funding to low-income students to pay for non-tuition related expenses, will increase from $1,600 to $2,000.

What is free college? ›

Free college programs generally refer to initiatives that reduce a student's cost of attending college, which typically includes tuition as well as living expenses such as room and board.

Which is better out of the two universities – UCLA vs UCB? UCB has more academic prestige but UCLA is known to be better at sports and has more students. UCLA is ranked as the top known public university and UCB is the second best.

Overall, the UC schools—being very prestigious and highly ranked—are much more difficult to get into than are the CSU schools, especially UC Berkeley and UCLA, the two highest-ranked schools. In other words, acceptance rates at UC schools are often far lower than those at CSU schools.

CSU has a slightly higher retention rate at 83%, but thats compared to CU's 80.8%. I couldn't find great statistics on degree completion but almost everyone I know that attended each completed their degree (I grew up in NoCo, so I have a lot of friends who went to one or the other).

UC has a specific way to calculate the grade point average (GPA) it requires for admission. California applicants must earn at least a 3.0 GPA and nonresidents must earn a minimum 3.4 GPA in all A-G or college-preparatory courses to meet this requirement.

Undergraduate Tuition

Most families pay less than the full price, and 45 percent of our undergraduate students pay no tuition at all. We offer an array of housing options and meal plans — as well as financial aid for housing — so that you have flexibility as to how much you pay.

Almost half of all Stanford undergraduates receive need-based financial aid. Families earning less than $150,000 with assets typical of that income level pay no tuition. Families earning less than $75,000 with assets typical of that income level pay no tuition or room and board.

Free college isn't a new idea in California: The state's Promise program gives full-time students at some colleges scholarships to cover tuition, and students with a low-enough income can also apply to have their fees waived.

What is the cheapest city in California? ›

There are 20 US states that provide tuition-free community programs for eligible students. These are Arkansas, Boston, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Indiana, Kentucky, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, New York, Nevada, Oklahoma, Oregon, Rhode Island, Seattle, Tennessee, Virginia, and Washington.

Norway offers free college tuition at all of its public universities for both Norwegians and international students. The Norwegian government funds these universities to help degree-seekers graduate with less debt. Norway also offers scholarships and grants to cover living expenses in the high-cost-of-living country.

Transportation. Take a deep breath—California has the highest transportation costs in the country.

The UC's (except Merced) are R1-level research institutions, which means we do the highest levels of research. R1-caliber faculty and researchers aren't cheap or plentiful, so they cost more. All that research also means there's a lot more infrastructure to support (facilities, staff, tech, etc.).

Another important consideration is affordability. According to worldpopulationreview.com, Hawaii is the most expensive state to live in, with its housing costing three times the national average. New York and California rank as the second and third most expensive states in which to live, respectively.

From his research, Clark has found that Californians are almost exclusively moving to Texas' four large metro areas — Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, San Antonio and Austin.