We are there with you as So Cal expatriates. When it came time to look for jobs after my husband was done with residency we briefly looked at California but the COL was ridiculous and the pay was less than other states. Now we have the money to travel there when we want to AND money to travel other places, too.
We moved out of San Diego to flyover country 14 years ago. Every February and every August I wonder what the heck we were thinking, but on the whole it was the right move for us.
@ShrimpBurrito - I think that June-October! But at least the summer the kids are out of school and we can get out of the heat 
@pickledginger and @scanteater - Another Bay Area, CA parent here. Unfortunately (or fortunately), the CA schools aren’t showing my D any love. A/B student, yet she was waitlisted at UCSC and denied at SLO. The only CA school where she’s been accepted is CSULB. Still waiting on UCI and SDSU which are SO painfully slow with admissions and we aren’t hopeful for acceptance. I feel bad for her, because CSULB was her in-state safety and she’s not super excited to attend, so there is a good chance that she’ll go OOS. Like you, I think the better opportunity for her is at a school OOS, and hopefully ending up somewhere out of CA after graduation. Don’t get me wrong - it’s a beautiful state, but it is just so expensive.
I was born in SF and raised in the Bay Area (Cupertino). My parents bought our home for $27500 in 1964. They sold it in 2007 for just a bit more :D. I moved to San Diego to attend SDSU and stayed there after graduation. I got a job writing software and got married. Wife and I were living in a rental in Point Loma and were trying to decide if we should A) Buy a house or B) Start our family. At that time, the company I was working for was acquired by Hewlett Packard (when it was still a great place to work) and moved to Loveland, CO. We visited and found that we could do both A & B at the same time in Colorado and only on my salary!!! We moved here in 1995 and have never considered moving back. I still have family in both NoCal and SoCal and visit but don’t ever see myself moving back. Of note, 100% of my nieces and nephews (4) have gone OOS for College.
I tried – S was accepted to WSU, CSU, and Mines and turned them all down for SLO.
Boom. Boom. Two back to back regret letters in the last few minutes.
One was the reach the school and completely expected…Northwestern.
The other was an outside scholarship which she had a good shot at and would have been about $15k. Have to say I am more sad about the scholarship as the reach may have been four years of stress and she is really happy about some of her top considerations that we have been doing the circuit with admitted student events.
Still waiting on two more schools and she has another big outside scholarship she has been working on. Miss 100% of the shots you do not take so I am proud she took the shots.
@MinnieFan I’m sorry for the disappointing news.
@MinnieFan Sorry!! Fingers crossed for ones.
No time to worry about colleges now. Neighborhoods around us have lost power again so we’re going to have another full house with family and friends coming over.
@MACmiracle - Oh no! It is too late in the year for that. Hope the power comes on soon. It sounds kind of nice to have all the family and friends come over, though.
Another California transplant here, although in our case we live in the DC area so cost of living is still high. But still better than the Bay Area where I grew up.
Jumping on the California train - love the weather but delighted to have my D heading OOS. It will be great for her to see something different and explore areas where she may want to live in the future. Highly doubt she will return home after college as it’s just too expensive. I turn 55 this year - still young - but not much chance I would stay in retirement given the insane COA. Now back to my house rich/cash poor life!
You are all making me nervous. My DD is leaving Atlanta and headed to University of San Francisco in the fall. I have heard it’s crazy expensive to live there but my logic in letting her do it was that when else but college is she going to be able to afford to live there? They gave her good merit money so at least we saved some money on that end!
Ugh @MACmiracle power issues again? We’re lucky plenty of snow but no wind today. I’m so sorry you’re dealing with power outages again.
My husband and I have been ready to break up with CA for a while now. As soon as D is settled in college, we’re out. Not sure where yet…just anywhere but here. It is beautiful, but so are a lot of other, cheaper places.
Spending 4 years in San Francisco will be wonderful. Many think that everyone should live in SF once in their lives and I tend to agree - spent 12 years there before moving to socal and would not trade it for anything.
Anyone have experience here with taking Calc CLEP vs the AP Calc (AB) Exam?? I saw another parent ask the question on a Bama Facebook page and it got us interested. D18 is finishing up her Calc AB lessons next week and then really just has the final in April and AP Exam in May. She is game for trying the CLEP exam after she is done her final and if she passes she can punt on the AP Exam. If she fails then onto the AP exam. A benefit of CLEP is she would get her test score on the spot, and can register for an upper level math class for next year at her college orientation session in June (vs. waiting until AP scores are in). Anyways, seems like $85 well spent to take the CLEP. Thoughts?
@Clementine7624 Same here. D will likely be headed to California for college.
@AmyBeth68 Thankfully, we’re fine. But the neighborhood where my mom lives always loses power.
I heard this week there was also a section of town that lost water for several days after the last storm. And Shoprite still has notices out front letting people know about their charging stations.