California State University-Bakersfield

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for California State University-Bakersfield

California State University-Bakersfield operates as a public institution located in Bakersfield, California (city: large), with a total reported enrollment of 8,577 students of which 10,231 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 State University-Bakersfield 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 93.8%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $5,652, with published in-state tuition of $8,090 and a Pell grant recipient share of 60.7%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $16,600, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 49.6%, and the first-year retention rate is 78.8%. Graduates earn a median of $59,009 ten years after enrolling, compared with $44,282 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 313600.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 65.8% 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.