Loyola Marymount
I would look at Chapman and Loyola Marymount.
Definitely look hard at Chapman. They are generous with merit aid and have a great film program. Redlands also is generous with merit aid. A friend’s son who is there was attracted to their theater program.
“Of the more residential CSUs named above, San Luis Obispo, Sonoma, San Diego, San Jose, and Pomona are probably the more complete ones in terms of CS offerings.”
I would include Long Beach on that list too, and maybe Fullerton and Sacramento would get honorable mentions.
San Diego is definitely a CSU with “spirit.”
I’m not sure how good their merit aid is, but another private school to look at might be Univ. of San Diego. It is fairly well regarded and has a beautiful hill-top campus located right in San Diego.
Something to consider about the U of SD, it has the lowest yield of any Califfornia school–e.g it’s a backup to many folks that apply to USC and UCLA.
LMU and Chapman sound like great fits for her. Also, Occidental. All are private, but tend to be generous
regarding aid.
Note that almost all of the schools being recommended are in Southern California. Don’t rule out the Northern part of the state. Schools that would meet and exceed her CS desires, plus have decent film programs include Santa Clara, San Jose State and San Francisco State.
I agree that as an out-of-state student, it doesn’t make much sense to attend a UC.
None of the Cal State schools will be offering aid to an OOS…
CSU Long Beach and CSU Fullerton are mostly commuter, but probably around a third of their students are residential, based on percentage of frosh living in the dorms. That information does not appear to be available for CSU Sacramento.
Like San Jose State and Cal Poly Pomona, San Francisco State is about half commuter and half resident, based on percentage of frosh living in the dorms.
Percentage of frosh living in the dorms can be found in the school’s common data set, or under the campus life tab for the school’s profile on http://www.collegedata.com .
Of course, this may not matter to an out-of-state/area student who does not care much for campus-based social life. But many students going to out-of-state/area schools may want there to be some campus-based social life that may be unsatisfying at primarily commuter-based schools.
Thank you everyone! This is the group I’m going to start researching.
Santa Clara
Occidental
Chapman
Claremont
Pomona
Loyola Marymount
CSU - San Diego
Pomona doesn’t give merit aid, but Scripps (another one of the “5Cs”) does, and you can take classes at Pomona, CMC, Pitzer, and Harvey Mudd. Besides the others on your list (all good), other California schools that give merit aid, have listed a computer major, are in your D’s SAT range and give merit aid include:
University of San Francisco
University of the Pacific
Pepperdine
Westmont
Clarification on Pomona - I believe that “Pomona” was suggested in the context of Cal States. In other words, Cal Poly Pomona, which is part of the Cal State system. Pomona College on the other hand is a highly-selective private LAC that is probably beyond the reach of the student in question with her current stats.
Note that there are two Cal Polys in the CSU system:
California Polytechnic State University - San Luis Obispo (CPSLO)
California State Polytechnic University - Pomona (CPP)
CPSLO is the more residential and more selective one, and is usually the one more desired by prospective students (unless the major is offered at CPP but not CPSLO, like chemical engineering).
Of the northern CSUs, an out-of-state student looking at CS may be more interested in Sonoma (more residential) and San Jose (in Silicon Valley).
@otisp What are the 5 c’s?
5Cs = Claremont Colleges: Pomona, Scripps, Pitzer, Harvey Mudd, Claremont McKenna
Pomona and Mudd have CS, but they are highly selective.
So my D took the April ACT and got a 34. Do you think this changes anything regarding the California schools that she should look at? Would this increase her chances for merit aid?
We are still debating the CA v. VA school issue. We are really stuck on where the best place would be for her.
@ACollegeFan that’s a great score! Look at how she did in the individual subject areas. Cal Poly San Luis Obispo only looks at the math and English on the ACT and they superscore. They also calculate GPA differently than all of the other CSUs. Go to the Cal Poly SLO section for more info. http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/cal-poly-san-luis-obispo/1694769-confused-about-mca-score-p1.html
Cal Poly SLO has a very different style and focus for education. You need to declare a major when you enter and, although it is possible to change majors, it is much more difficult to do that at SLO than other schools. If you are considering SLO, it would be smart to visit the campus and get a feel for where it is located (not near a major airport) and see “Learn by Doing” in action.
For the UCs, calculate her CSU/UC GPA http://www.csumentor.com/planning/high_school/gpa_calculator.asp or https://rogerhub.com/gpa-calculator-uc/. Her ACT sounds high enough for all of the UCs. Hopefully she has the UC GPA to match. 
California is a big state. You didn’t say where you are intending to retire to. Will you be close to a major airport? That might make a difference as well.
Santa Clara
University of San Diego (when I toured, they said they offered scholarships to all applicants in the top 35% adademically)
Pepperdine
Occidental
Redlands
Chapman
@lkg4answers thanks for the information! We aren’t sure where we will end up. Probably the San Diego area. She will go first if she ends up going to CA for undergrad.
@rosedancer1 I will research these schools. Thank you for the list. This is great.
We are contemplating a trip this summer to visit some schools. I know it’s not the best time, but it is all we have.