California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo

California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo operates as a public institution located in San Luis Obispo, California (suburb: small), with a total reported enrollment of 21,996 students of which 22,726 are undergraduates. Institution-level records in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) classify each school by Carnegie category, ownership sector, and urban/rural locale, which is how this profile’s peer group and cost cohort are determined. California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo is categorized as “18” under the Carnegie classification system, a meaningful signal when comparing like-to-like institutions.

Selectivity and financial signals give context to what applicants can expect. The reported admission rate is 31.3%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $16,665, with published in-state tuition of $13,596 and a Pell grant recipient share of 19.2%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $18,500, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 85.7%, and the first-year retention rate is 95.5%. Graduates earn a median of $90,768 ten years after enrolling, compared with $72,358 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 437700.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 79.1% of graduates earn above the high-school threshold. Treating these numbers as a single snapshot alongside the cost cohort is the standard approach for evaluating ROI under the College Scorecard methodology.