Are mid tier UC’s really worth attending vs a Cal state? I ask because I was accepted to UCSD, UCSB, UCI for electrical engineering which all require EE majors to take this year long sophomore level circuits series that can’t be satisfied at any CC. This year long sequence is a prereq for many upper div EE classes which means EE majors are pretty much guaranteed to take 3 full years to graduate after transfer. These UCs are also too far for me to commute to so the cost of attendance would be much greater due to rent. If I just go to CSUN, I would be living at home, and would also be on track to graduate in 2 years, rather than 3. So getting an EE degree at CSUN would literally be like 3-4 times cheaper. I would gladly pay more to attend UCLA or UCB, but I don’t know if it’s worth it for the lower ranked UCs.
An engineering degree from the UCs is not worth 2-4 times that from CSUN. Especially if that money is going to be borrowed, especially if the family doesn’t have that money to lose.
Where the UCs, particularly the better known ones can give value, though how much I cannot quantify, is if you should change your major to something other than engineering.
I’d take the 2 year route and then do a masters for the 5th year.
I also do not think the UCs you listed are second tier. If money were not a consideration, I’d be at UCSB in a heartbeat.
engineering education is pretty level. All things equal employers might be more likely to recruit from a UC than most CSU campuses. Your job is to keep all things from being equal. Go to CSUN and get top grades. Be sure to be involved in an internship since (1) if you do well its almost an automatic job offer from your employer who knows what they’re getting (2) other employers prefer to hire kids who know what they’re getting into.
Ironically, since you’re focused on time in school, the easiest way to get an internship is to spend 6 months in a coop position; few want to spend an extra year in school so there isn’t a lot of competition for these positions even though they are well paid.
UCSB and UCSD aren’t mid tier. They are within the top ten public schools in the country. Therefore, they have the same prestige as UCLA and Berkeley, just not as known. I think UCSB/SD are worth the extra money because the work you do with professors there will really prepare you for when it’s time to get a job.
find out how employable is the CSU compared to UCSD, UCSB or UCI. I suspect the UC’s mentioned provide better job prospects. If you do not need to take out loans for the UC, I believe the UC is worth the costs.
As others have said, UCSD, UCSB, and UCI are not “mid-tier” institutions (especially, in engineering, UCSD is not anywhere near “mid-tier.” Quite the opposite, in fact. ). Whether its worth 3-4 times as much as CSUN is a matter of opinion, but if you “would gladly pay more to attend UCLA or UCB, but I don’t know if it’s worth it for the lower ranked UCs” you can take the “lower ranked UCs” out of the equation. UCSD is a top school.
Granted, these rankings are for their grad programs, but this will give you an idea:
US News Graduate Program Rankings (published March 2019):
The Jacobs School of Engineering ranks 11th among the nation’s top engineering schools, and 6th in the nation among public universities according to the U.S. News ranking of graduate schools. (U.S. News, published March 2019).
With $188 million in federal, state and industry research support in FY18, the Jacobs School of Engineering ranks 13th overall, and 3rd among all public engineering schools, for research expenditures per faculty member, reflecting UC San Diego’s leadership as a research university. (U.S. News, published March 2019.)
Not a manager or anything but my dad (retired now) graduated with a computer science degree from UCLA and says his company (a big one in Silicon Valley) never really cared about where graduates came from (unless it was Stanford) like they hired from UIUC, Purdue, San Jose State, Berkeley, UC Santa Cruz, Texas, Washington, etc. all pretty equally. He stressed that they would take a 4.0 student from a lesser-known state university than a 3.0 from a prestigious one. I feel like people REALLY hype up prestige, but my brother is a compsci grad from Cal Poly SLO and makes the EXACT same as people who went to UCLA, Santa Clara, San Francisco State, etc.
Save the money, I would say. Go to CSUN. 
It’s a great school.