I would say CM still has a good rep.

In California, for acting/film, the usual debate boils down to UCLA v. USC. For just film, there's CalArts. For just acting, I think both UCSB and UCSC have great programs. (I may be biased 'cuz I graduated from UCSC.) And I have a friend who teaches acting at UCD, and she's proud to be there.

I went to UCSB. Some of the faculty for acting are incredible- Michael Morgan (Voice), James Donlon (Movement) in particular. They have a new facility as well. There's a BA and BFA for acting and one for tech. The film department is pretty good there as well from what I understand, but the 2 departments are not closely connected. The acting BFA is a little weird in the way they run it, you audition to get in and you are evaluated every 10 weeks, every quarter, and they cut people every quarter.

I spent a quarter at UCSC as well and their set up is different in a few ways, you audition for each acting class and you are not graded there, you get evaluations, though you can request grades if you like, however, I NEVER received my grades or evaluations from my one quarter there, though there are some good faculty there as well.

UC's are far cheaper than NYU and Julliard, but less prestigious in terms of name dropping and connections- which are useful for actors anyway.

Personally, if this is for undergradutate, I'd recommend going to UCSB for undergrad drama and film and getting an MFA in Acting from NYU, Yale, Harvard, ACT, etc. if you really want to go the school route.

Does anyone know if DePaul really does have a good film school? And if not, what are some good ones? I'm looking at SCAD right now, but I don't know where else to look.

If you want to be in California look at CalArts for sure.
DePaul has an amazing theatre program (they were my first chioce school but I got wait listed). If youre son's interested in doing a double major he shouldn't bother with DePaul, becasue their theatre program is a BFA not a BA, meaning it's a conservatory, which is a larger commitment. Most conservatories dont allow students to double major.
Southern Methodist Unniversity in Texas has an excellent theatre program (top ten in the nation) and because theyre a BA they encourage students to duoble major.
Northwestern is amazing, but really really really academic.
Emerson's also has an amazing BA program.

Having both a BFA & an MFA in the theatre arts, I would advise that for undergraduate studies he should definitely pick a school that is NOT well known for their graduate degree program (and most of them that have "big" names or advertise are known for their graduate program not their undergraduate programs, like NYU, Yale, UCSD, etc). When a school has both programs, eventually you will find that one of the programs has to suffer (it's just a matter of resources), and usually this ends up being the undergraduate program -- what this means is that all of the first-picks for auditions, teachers & classes will go to the graduate students, and he may graduate without having ever played a lead role in a production.

I went to USC, and I think it's great - but I am biased, naturally (their film & theatre schools are literally next door to one another & they feed off of each other a lot). USC was great for undergrad because it has a very small & otherwise fledgling graduate program - which means that the focus was on the undergrad students & we got more hands-on experience than at most programs. When I was at UCSD for grad school, I noticed that the undergrads only got one full production a year (compared to our 5-6) and that in general their classes weren't taught by the same level of teachers. I would, of course, recommend them for grad school - but I would strongly discourage someone from going there for undergrad. Just something to consider that I don't think most people realize or take in to account.