California Private Colleges Ranked by Highest In State Tution

Below is a college cost ranking of the 100 private colleges in California with the highest in state tution. What is the most expensive college in California? University of Southern California leads the list with a tuition and fee total of $74,290. Note these costs do not include room and board or living expenses.

All price data are reprinted from the U.S. Department of Education's IPEDS 2025 survey and reflect reported costs for academic year 2024/2025.

List of California Private Colleges Ranked by Highest In State Tution
College	Tuition In State
University of Southern California Los Angeles, California	$74,290
Pepperdine University Malibu, California	$70,706
Northeastern University Oakland Oakland, California	$70,566
Harvey Mudd College Claremont, California	$68,964
California Institute of Technology Pasadena, California	$68,394
Claremont McKenna College Claremont, California	$68,330
Occidental College Los Angeles, California	$66,870
Stanford University Stanford, California	$66,693
Scripps College Claremont, California	$66,250
Pomona College Claremont, California	$65,840
Pitzer College Claremont, California	$65,496
Chapman University Orange, California	$65,388
Loyola Marymount University Los Angeles, California	$63,744
Santa Clara University Santa Clara, California	$61,947
University of Redlands Redlands, California	$61,628
California College of the Arts San Francisco, California	$61,076
University of San Francisco San Francisco, California	$61,064
University of San Diego San Diego, California	$60,552

Search and filter all 100 colleges

This list is updated annually based on the latest data from the National Center for Education Statistics.
Last updated: March 15, 2026

Data source: IPEDS 2025 survey for academic year 2024/2025 - National Center for Education Statistics.