Colleges in California: acceptance rates and cost

Stanford admitted the smallest share of applicants for fall 2023, 3.9%.

In the trend data, CSUN moved further than any other college here, from 46.2% in fall 2013 to 93.1% by fall 2023, a rise of 46.9 points.

Turning to tuition, Cal State LA asks $20,850 of out-of-state students for 2025-26, the lowest figure in the table; residents of California pay $7,530.

After grants, the smallest net price for the $0 to $30,000 income band is $1,067 at Stanford, from 2024-25 data, against tuition and fees of $68,544 before aid.

On demand alone, UCLA leads on applications with 145,903 for fall 2023, up 101% from fall 2013.

A typical California bachelor's college admitted 71.2% of applicants for fall 2023, the median of 106 reporting colleges, and the median out-of-state tuition at the state's 33 public bachelor's colleges is $22,144 for 2025-26.

California colleges on AdmitFacts

College	Admit rate, fall 2023	In-state tuition, 2025-26	Out-of-state, 2025-26	Graduation, 2019 entrants	Net price $0-30k, 2024-25
UCLA	8.7%	$15,729	$53,331	93%	$7,755
USC	10.0%	$75,162 same for all		90%	$17,171
Stanford	3.9%	$68,544 same for all		92%	$1,067
UCSD	24.5%	$17,337	$54,939	86%	$9,229
SDSU	34.4%	$9,180	$25,500	78%	$8,258
UC Berkeley	11.7%	$17,198	$54,800	94%	$5,110
Cal Poly SLO	29.8%	$15,039	$37,005	87%	$10,354
UC Davis	41.6%	$17,346	$54,948	86%	$8,770
UCSB	27.8%	$16,989	$54,591	84%	$9,523
UC Irvine	25.6%	$16,235	$53,837	87%	$6,160
Chapman University	55.6%	$67,894 same for all		83%	$34,494
LMU	40.3%	$65,857 same for all		79%	$36,415
University of San Diego	46.7%	$62,420 same for all		81%	$16,814
CSULB	47.1%	$8,338	$21,658	70%	$6,443
San Jose State	80.2%	$8,846	$22,166	68%	$10,381
UCSC	62.5%	$16,585	$54,187	74%	$9,973
Cal Poly Pomona	73.7%	$8,147	$21,467	68%	$6,245
University of San Francisco	50.8%	$62,462 same for all		66%	$23,963
Santa Clara University	43.8%	$63,513 same for all		87%	$22,696
UC Riverside	63.3%	$16,103	$53,705	75%	$6,871
UC Merced	39.2%	$16,271	$53,873	68%	$7,387
CSUF	86.7%	$7,952	$21,272	68%	$2,620
SFSU	96.1%	$8,324	$21,644	50%	$6,699
CSUN	93.1%	$7,850	$21,170	57%	$4,429
Cal State LA	91.9%	$7,530	$20,850	55%	$1,364
Fresno State	96.4%	$8,224	$21,544	58%	$3,925
CSUSM	95.7%	$8,454	$21,774	55%	$7,618
Sacramento State	93.6%	$9,014	$22,334	54%	$8,392
CSUDH	91.3%	$7,853	$21,173	42%	$6,002
Chico State	93.7%	$8,896	$22,216	60%	$9,227

Admit rates: IPEDS fall 2023. Tuition and fees: College Scorecard 2025-26; private colleges charge every student the same. Graduation within 6 years: College Scorecard, students who started in 2019. Net price for families earning $0 to $30,000: College Scorecard 2024-25, students with federal aid. State medians cover every operating bachelor's-degree college in the Scorecard file.

Every state median in the summary, with its source field

Figure	Value	File, field, year
Median admit rate, California (N = 106)	71.2%	`IPEDS ADM2023, median ADMSSN/APPLCN, bachelor's institutions, fall 2023`
Median out-of-state tuition and fees, public colleges, California (N = 33)	$22,144	`College Scorecard, median TUITIONFEE_OUT, public bachelor's institutions, 2025-26`