San Diego State University

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for San Diego State University

San Diego State University operates as a public institution located in San Diego, California (city: large), with a total reported enrollment of 35,377 students of which 36,724 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. San Diego State University is categorized as “16” 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 36.2%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $15,364, with published in-state tuition of $8,728 and a Pell grant recipient share of 31.7%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $15,000, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 77.3%, and the first-year retention rate is 90.6%. Graduates earn a median of $64,909 ten years after enrolling, compared with $52,620 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 794300.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 70.1% 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.