Private Colleges in California

The 2023 Directory of California Private Colleges and Costs

California Private Colleges, Cost and Affordability for 2022

How much does it cost to attend private college in California?   The average annual in-state four year, not for profit private college tuition in California was $35,639 for the 2021-2022 academic year. This is a change of $1,143 from the 2019-2020 average of $34,496 and represents a 3.31% annual increase. The list of California private colleges below provides school specific cost and value rating.

Our guide surveyed tuition data from the 133 private colleges and universities in California, the most popular being University of Southern California with 42,631 full time students and an in-state tuition list price of $60,446. University of Southern California is the most expensive private school in California with an in-state tuition of $60,446.

Click on any school for current tuition, future cost estimates, school specific savings plans and estimated student loan payments. California colleges can also be filtered by public, private, community colleges and four year schools. Additionally, cost based sorting is available for the lowest and highest tuition options. Jump directly to our ranking of best values in California or cheap California colleges guide.

<Academic Rating is a CollegeCalc proprietary national percentile ranking of a college's overall difficulty and educational effectiveness. An average score is 50. Dollar value is a measure of a school's academic rating compared with the average net price paid. Colleges which are ranked "n/a" didn't report sufficient data to formulate a score. Learn more about our ratings.

All price data are reprinted from the U.S. Department of Education's 2020-2021 IPEDS Survey and reflect reported costs for the 2021-2022 academic year.

Explore California Colleges

School Tuition Rating Value
American Academy of Dramatic Arts Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

$36,480 NA NA
American Conservatory Theater

San Francisco, California

$30,235 NA NA
American Jewish University

Los Angeles, California

$31,394 NA NA
American University of Health Sciences

Signal Hill, California

$21,420 NA NA
Art Center College of Design

Pasadena, California

$47,334 NA NA
Azusa Pacific Online University

Glendora, California

$10,800 NA NA
Azusa Pacific University

Azusa, California

$40,830 64 62
Bethesda University of California

Anaheim, California

$6,360 NA NA
Biola University

La Mirada, California

$44,382 66 50
Bryan University

Los Angeles, California

$12,100 NA NA
California Baptist University

Riverside, California

$34,918 46 18
California Christian College

Fresno, California

$9,600 NA NA
California College of the Arts

Oakland, California

$51,792 NA NA
California College San Diego

San Diego, California

$18,480 NA NA
California Institute of Technology

Pasadena, California

$56,364 98 97
California Institute of the Arts

Valencia, California

$52,850 NA NA
California Lutheran University

Thousand Oaks, California

$45,500 60 60
Chapman University

Orange, California

$58,250 80 57
Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science

Los Angeles, California

$14,424 NA NA
Claremont McKenna College

Claremont, California

$57,876 96 99