Public Colleges in California

The 2023 Directory of California Public Colleges and Costs

California Public Colleges, Cost and Affordability for 2022

How much does it cost to attend public college in California?   The average annual in-state four year, public college tuition in California was $7,288 for the 2021-2022 academic year. This is a change of ($57) from the 2019-2020 average of $7,345 and represents a -0.78% annual decline. The list of California public colleges below provides school specific cost and value rating. Public schools are partially funded by the taxpayers of California and usually offer lower tuition to in-state residents.

Our guide surveyed tuition data from the 146 public colleges and universities in California, the most popular being University of California Los Angeles with 43,955 full time students and an in-state tuition list price of $11,442. University of California Berkeley is the most expensive public school in California with an in-state tuition of $11,442.

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
Allan Hancock College

Santa Maria, California

$1,104 NA NA
American River College

Sacramento, California

$0 NA NA
Antelope Valley College

Lancaster, California

$1,104 NA NA
Bakersfield College

Bakersfield, California

$1,380 NA NA
Barstow Community College

Barstow, California

$1,104 NA NA
Berkeley City College

Berkeley, California

$1,104 NA NA
Butte College

Oroville, California

$1,104 NA NA
Cabrillo College

Aptos, California

$1,104 NA NA
California Maritime Academy

Vallejo, California

$5,742 NA NA
California Polytechnic State University San Luis Obispo

San Luis Obispo, California

$5,742 74 48
California State Polytechnic University Pomona

Pomona, California

$5,742 51 30
California State University Bakersfield

Bakersfield, California

$5,742 NA NA
California State University Channel Islands

Camarillo, California

$5,742 NA NA
California State University Chico

Chico, California

$5,742 46 28
California State University Dominguez Hills

Carson, California

$5,742 NA NA
California State University East Bay

Hayward, California

$5,742 NA NA
California State University Fresno

Fresno, California

$5,742 33 57
California State University Fullerton

Fullerton, California

$5,742 45 44
California State University Long Beach

Long Beach, California

$5,742 53 60
California State University Los Angeles

Los Angeles, California

$5,742 29 49