The Chronicle of Higher Education also has a list of expenditures per student degrees in public and private universities. Here we quote numbers for the most expensive ones in CA and in the US. The drawback is that the reporting to the Chronicle lumps all degrees including undergraduate, Masters, Ph. Ds, and probably law, medical and other professional degrees. The top universities such as UC Berkeley, UCLA, Harvard, Princeton, and Yale have vastly higher expenditures per degree since thay have such a large percentage of advanced and professional degrees. Still, the results are a measure of the cost of education at all levels.
In CA, the expenditure per completion in a 4 year public college is $71,000. At UCLA, which is the highest for the UC system, the expenditure per degree is $156,000. At UC Irvine, which is singled out since that is where I am, the expenditure is $93,000. Average student aid at UCI is $12,000 per student.
When we look at the most expensive CA private universities, the top is Cal Tech at $619,000 per degree, Stanford at $345,000 per degree, and USC at $172,000 per degree. On an historical note, I was fortunate enough to receive a (post Sputnik) NSF Graduate Fellowship for five years to get my Ph. D. in particle physics at Stanford from 1963 to 1968. The fellowship paid Stanford $2500 per year to cover my tuition and fees.
For the big three power elite on the East Coast, Yale comes out on top at $503,000 per degree, Princeton is next at $375,000 per degree, and Harvard is a best buy at $343,000 per degree.
