Westmont College

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Westmont College

Westmont College operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Santa Barbara, California (suburb: midsize), with a total reported enrollment of 1,302 students of which 1,385 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. Westmont College is categorized as “21” 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 77.0%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey, with an average SAT of 1,328 and an ACT midpoint of 29. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $29,053, with published in-state tuition of $53,584 and a Pell grant recipient share of 20.0%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $23,250, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 70.2%, and the first-year retention rate is 85.0%. Graduates earn a median of $64,778 ten years after enrolling, compared with $53,737 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 44600.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 62.6% 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.