I'm also from California State University (CSU), so I took a master's degree because I thought my PhD was too long. I don't think CSU schools are necessarily worse than University of California (UC), because CSU focuses on the teaching and application of master's degree, while UC focuses on theoretical research, so PHD is the focus.
The key is to see what you want to learn, how much tuition you pay, and the strength of your own application materials.
The last answer is that USF is a pheasant. I despise such people. Perhaps this kind of person is from a prestigious school, but studying for a master's degree, a prestigious school may not be better than an ordinary university. Because famous schools pay more attention to research, Niu's professors come to class with teaching assistants, unlike ordinary schools, which pay less attention to teaching.
Give you two pieces of advice, after all, from then on:
1. The University of San Francisco is private, and the tuition is much more expensive than that of San Francisco State (public university), which should be nearly double.
2. Learn more about whether each school has the strength in the major you want to study, instead of looking at the comprehensive ranking of schools.
3. If the major you want to study is not the trump card major of these two schools, public priority is given. If you just want to study for a master's degree, you can go to a public university in San Francisco or other States. If you want to study PhD, don't choose either school, because San Francisco state may not have a doctorate, and it is too easy to enter the non-ace major of San Francisco University.
In short, almost all the good universities in America are private. As long as you are studying for a doctorate, it is easy to get into a non-top university.