@CaliforniaMomma - Through our college looking experiences
UC Davis, CSU San Luis Obispo, UC Santa Cruz, CSU Humboldt, Sonoma State and Chico have college town feels
CSU Sacramento has good residential life but Sacramento is too huge and spread out to be a college town
Westwood and Palo Alto are great college areas but are very expensive but so it seems is nearly everywhere in California. It depends what you are looking for. The Southern California versus Northern California town feels are very different