California State University-San Marcos

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

California State University-San Marcos operates as a public institution located in San Marcos, California (suburb: large), with a total reported enrollment of 14,877 students of which 15,544 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-San Marcos 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 95.1%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $10,229, with published in-state tuition of $8,082 and a Pell grant recipient share of 42.6%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $17,350, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 54.4%, and the first-year retention rate is 78.6%. Graduates earn a median of $62,908 ten years after enrolling, compared with $48,673 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 333500.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 68.6% 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.