I think this discussion is missing the forest for the tree: LOTS OF DEBT.
It’s not UCLA vs. UAlabama, it’s UCLA with a lot of debt and no Regents vs. UAlabama without debt and Honors.
(For instance, kaRU is right that most public universities have large lecture halls and discussion sections, as I’ve said twice, but the fact is that OP here DOES NOT have to go through the huge lecture hall problem, nor does s/he have to deal with advanced “seminars” that are twice to four times the recommended size for an advanced seminar, which is 15-24.)
It doesn’t matter in the end that LA is a bigger city, or that there’s more diversity in LA or at UCLA, not when OP would have to pay back loans until age 40 or 50 and/or put his parents’ retirement in jeopardy - because concretely that’s what we’re talking about “Oh I want to be 4 years in sunny LA, let’s jeopardize my ability to buy a house AND my parents’ ability to retire.”