Irvine is home to several colleges and universities, including prestigious institutions like University of California, Irvine and UMass Global. And since Irvine is so close to Silicon Valley, it’s a great place to network with future employers while you study for a tech degree. The bad news is that the city is also one of the least affordable college towns in the US. This means that studying in Irvine isn’t really an option for most students unless they’re willing to go into massive debt for their degrees.