California’s Top Public Universities May Cost In-State Families Over $50,000 a Year – The Epoch Times

People walk toward Sather Gate on the U.C. Berkeley campus in Berkeley, Calif. – The Epoch Times

Attending certain University of California campuses costs student families more than $50,000 annually.

UC Berkeley posted a $54,674 price tag for new California students living in a campus residence hall.

A new UC Irvine in-state undergraduate student will face a $50,130 cost if choosing to live off campus, while for UC Santa Barbara, a new California-resident freshman living in a UCSB residence hall will have a total annual cost of $50,946.

Other than tuition and fees, the total cost of attendance includes housing, food, health insurance, and other personal expenses.

“Ultimately, how affordable UC is for a given family depends on its income, its eligibility for aid, and its living arrangements,” Rachel Yang Zhou, a research fellow at Public Policy Institute of California (PPIC) wrote Nov. 6 in an email to The Epoch Times.

“This is also a sticker price: Most California students pay considerably less once financial aid is counted,” Zhou said.

The financial aid includes the federal Pell Grant, the Cal Grant, the Middle Class Scholarship, UC’s Blue and Gold program, and various scholarships.

The net cost of UC Berkeley attendance for California students differed for various household income groups after financial aid, University of California data show.

California residents with a household income of $180,000 or more would pay about $42,300 with financial aid to attend UC Berkeley. That figure drops to approximately $34,000 for families with income between $120,000 to $180,000, and $19,200 for families with income between $60,000 to $120,000, according to UC data.

California students with household income less than $60,000 pay $8,100 to attend UC Berkeley.

The latest data ended with the 2024–25 school year, in which UC Berkeley’s cost of attendance was recorded as $47,289 for on-campus housing students.

“For low income families, financial aid often covers tuition, but the remaining costs, especially housing and food, can still take up a sizable share of their income,” Zhou said. “Middle-income families may receive less grant support and pay more out of pocket.”

The amount of the state-provided Middle Class Scholarship for California for low- to middle-income undergraduate students varies with the number of eligible students and the allocated funding.

In the 2019–20 academic year, UC Berkeley students received a little over $4 million in Middle Class Scholarship awards, and the number increased to nearly $32 million in the 2024–25 academic year.

The Middle Class Scholarship’s coverage was reduced in the 2026–27 school year, according to PPIC.

UC’s net cost of attendance after financial aid for California students has remained stable or declined for some income groups in inflation-adjusted dollars, university data show.

About 52 percent of UC’s in-state undergraduates pay no tuition, and 67 percent receive grants and scholarships, according to the university’s admission webpage.

The University of California will get approximately $175 million from the Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond Act, which voters recently passed.

“This historic investment will enable the construction of necessary and new housing on our campuses,” UC President James Milliken said in a Nov. 4 news release.

“We have much work ahead to address housing in California, but this is an important victory in the effort to bring down costs for students.”