“We drove 900 miles From Southern California to Northern California to drop off our freshman daughter.”
We went out of the country to drop off our daughter and it still wasn’t that far. California is indeed a very large state.
@iris13 There is a lot that you haven’t told us. Have you applied to public schools in-state? What would it cost to attend the out of state university that you are interested in? What can you afford? What is the university that you would prefer to attend? Have you applied to other in-state options and just not heard back from them yet?
Your post doesn’t come across as a careful rational comparison of the pluses and minuses of choosing one university over another.
I agree with others that there is a lot of time before you need to commit to a particular school.