Best of luck to your son. He’s going to have a great four year adventure and I’m sure there will be a robust job market waiting for him when he graduates.
Our other two went out of state, one to Oregon and one currently a senior at Colorado. Same thing here — out of state tuition there is the same as in-state in the UCs. Also, the schools in other states offer the classes you need when you need them. The class schedules at UCSC are all fouled up and our daughter actually needed a fifth year to get the classes she need to graduate with her BS degree. It is a real BS system that forces you to pay for a fifth year to meet their graduation requirements!
We had heard about the UCs taking 5 years. It factored into the decision.
We found out today that my son got a small scholarship from the San Diego A&M Club.
It’s not much, but it is making it still closer financially to the UCs.