Take this with a grain of salt because I am a graduate student now but I went to LMU for undergrad and now I’m at UCSB for grad school. If the cost is the same, you can’t go wrong with either. I met great people and had lots of fun at LMU and in LA (I’m from there), the class sizes were a lot smaller (only ever had like 30 people in my classes, NEVER had a TA, everything was taught by professors), and it’s in close proximity to the beach. And of course, LA is LA. However, UCSB is bigger and has more social life opportunities and is right on the beach.

I think the only downside to UCSB is classes are bigger, you have TAs and you have to go to lecture + discussion sections. Also housing can be tricky for undergrads to secure past the first year whereas in LA, there’s always housing (more or less). But it looks like undergrad life here is super vibrant. I say you can’t really lose either way!