Yes, to take away the ambiguity, it should be written Southern California. It is the only school that is abbreviated in such a manner even though BYU is just as common an abbreviation but not used.
Thanks for guessing Atlanta for Georgia yielding the answer for Morehouse (for which I had no idea). Bet this is why the latter's % is relatively high.
Yeah, I would jettison the large metropolitan cities (LA, Atlanta, etc.) and go for real college towns -- Oxford, Palo Alto, Bloomington, State College, Hanover, Ames. If you're going to include small liberal arts colleges like Spellman, then the list grows: Claremont, Gambier, Galesburg, Northfield, and so on.
Although Notre Dame University is commonly associated with South Bend, Indiana, it is actually situated in Notre Dame, a census-designated place and unincorporated community just beyond the city limits in St. Joseph County. Both locations should be considered valid responses.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USC