Public Colleges Are Passing the $50,000-a-Year Mark. For Locals.

People who graduated from the University of California in the 1960s didn’t pay a dime for tuition.If they have offered to pay for their grandchildren to attend now, they may be in for a shock.The University of California, Berkeley, posted an all-in price — tuition, room, board, fees and other expenses that make up the full cost of attendance — of $54,674 this year for new in-state students living in a campus residence hall.The Santa Barbara campus lists a $50,946 price.

The cost of attendance has crossed the $50,000 barrier in Irvine, too, where undergraduates are guaranteed only two years of on-campus housing.The all-in price for a student living off campus there is $50,130.The $50,000-per-year figure is likely to act as a kind of psychological tripwire for families who thought that state schools were supposed to be a bargain.It does come with asterisks.

Plenty of people get financial aid and pay much less.These estimated list prices include health insurance, which many students do not need to buy.And the price reflects the fact that California is an expensive place to do most anything.

According to the College Board, the average list price for tuition and fees at an American four-year public university was $11,950 during the 2025-26 school year.At the California schools in question, that figure was many thousands higher.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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