University of Alabama vs. Cal Poly SLO

Be sure to factor the time and expense required to get to SLO into your total cost of attendance.
It really is a terrific school for the right student, but not near any major airports (only a very small regional) and there is no easy or direct transport.

The reason they do not mention the time (in hours) to get from either San Francisco or Los Angeles on their direction page, is that it will take quite a while to get there - 3.25 hours drive time from LAX and 3.5 hours from SFO, and that’s with no traffic.
http://www.maps.calpoly.edu/getting_around.html