<p>Posting from Arizona. U of A is very well respected and Tucson is great. You might consider also the travel time and expense depending on where you live in CA. Another who thinks your son doesn’t sound very invested if he isn’t willing to go and look-see. Maybe his original plan is the right one?</p>
<p>Your son really needs to visit Nevada. It is VERY different from CA. Many people from CA find Reno uncomfortable (almost a culture shock). If he hasn’t visited I wouldn’t commit. Make sure he gets off campus and is OK with the environment he would be living in. </p>
<p>I also have a hard time with spending that much money on UNR.</p>
<p>^^^ It’s a bit like Reno is to Tucson as LA is to Las Vegas. Reno and Tucson are pretty laid-back…</p>
<p>this is the OP. I wanted to update on the situation and also thank everyone for posting. I read all the posts and they were so helpful. I told my son that he needed to decide for himself which college he thought was his first choice and go visit at least that college to confirm that it was the place for him. He came back in a few days and said he wanted to visit Univ of Arizona. He went by himself, stayed in a hotel near campus, almost missed the campus tour after oversleeping, but then managed to catch up with the tour at the Student Union Center. He came back home saying the campus was amazing and he totally wanted to go there. He seemed much more confident that college was the right choice for him and less anxious about the fall. I know it’s just a little baby step but it’s so great to see him going in a positive direction. Thanks for the help everyone - it made a difference.</p>
<p>I’m glad it all worked out. One of my kids went to U of AZ and ended up transferring to a top school. There was some culture shock (we are east coasters) but the academics were solid. Kiddo said there were a lot of California kids there. My two caveats are: 1- at the time (and this was quite a few years ago so things may have changed), crime was pretty high in the city of Tucson and 2- a lot of kids would cross the border to party (since they could drink in Mexico when they were still underage in the US).</p>
<p>Look into WUE - I think Californians can benefit from that at the U. of AZ. Go Wildcats!</p>
<p>University of Arizona offers the WUE discount only for the mining engineering major.
[WICHE</a> - Student Exchange Programs](<a href=“http://wue.wiche.edu/profile.jsp?id=29]WICHE”>http://wue.wiche.edu/profile.jsp?id=29)</p>
<p>University of Nevada - Reno offers the WUE discount for many majors:
[WICHE</a> - Student Exchange Programs](<a href=“http://wue.wiche.edu/profile.jsp?id=83]WICHE”>http://wue.wiche.edu/profile.jsp?id=83)</p>