Admissions Essentials · After college
What a degree from every California college costs and earns
Net price by family income, median pay ten years after starting, debt and graduation rates for every UC, Cal State and private four-year college in California, with our own 10-year return.
SourceUS Department of Education, release of October 15, 2026: net prices for 2024-25, earnings for students who entered in 2011-12 to 2016-17.
Price and pay, side by side
A college’s sticker price tells a family very little. What matters is what you pay after grants and what graduates earn afterward. On that measure Caltech comes out first in California, with a 10-year return of $754,000. The best UC is UC Berkeley, at number 6 of 92: its former students earned a median of $100,212 ten years after starting, and an aided student paid $14,538 a year on average, or $5,110 from a family with income of $0 to $30,000.
Choose your family’s income below. At the nine UC campuses, a family with income of $0 to $30,000 paid between $5,110 and $9,973 a year in 2024-25; a family with income of $110,001 and up paid between $30,021 and $37,451.
Net price against earnings
Each dot is a California four-year college. Across: what a federally aided first-year student in the chosen income band paid for one year after grants, 2024-25. Up: median earnings ten years after starting, for students who entered in 2011-12 or 2012-13, earnings in 2022 and 2023, in 2024 dollars. Colleges where Scorecard left out the net price for that band are not drawn.
Every college, ranked
Sort by any column. The return uses the net price for the income band chosen above (All aided students). Tap a row to find it on the chart.
| CaltechPrivate | $754,000 | $8,509 | $166,642 | 90% | $7,500 | $90,822 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| StanfordPrivate | $542,000 | $12,307 | $125,340 | 92% | $10,750 | $92,892 |
| Harvey Mudd CollegePrivate | $514,000 | $39,347 | $164,248 | 93% | $25,000 | $93,131 |
| Claremont McKenna CollegePrivate | $427,000 | $26,039 | $127,532 | 90% | $13,450 | $91,510 |
| Cal Poly Maritime AcademyCal State | $408,000 | $17,793 | $105,475 | 58% | $23,644 | $30,866 |
| UC BerkeleyUC | $382,000 | $14,538 | $100,212 | 94% | $12,416 | $47,842 |
| Loma Linda UniversityPrivate | $354,000 | $25,018 | $99,540 | Not published | $21,500 | $39,397 |
| Cal Poly San Luis ObispoCal State | $343,000 | $18,832 | $96,304 | 87% | $16,500 | $36,515 |
| UC San DiegoUC | $341,000 | $14,794 | $96,197 | 86% | $13,000 | $41,664 |
| Northeastern University OaklandPrivate | $312,000 | $30,622 | $99,371 | Not published | $20,000 | $90,009 |
| San Jose StateCal State | $311,000 | $14,241 | $83,493 | 68% | $14,750 | $28,920 |
| Pomona CollegePrivate | $308,000 | $18,978 | $84,281 | 92% | $14,000 | $89,414 |
| UCLAUC | $305,000 | $14,659 | $88,581 | 93% | $13,750 | $41,373 |
| Cal State East BayCal State | $304,000 | $6,858 | $73,868 | 49% | $16,500 | $20,807 |
| UC DavisUC | $301,000 | $14,318 | $86,999 | 86% | $12,038 | $43,191 |
| Cal Poly PomonaCal State | $297,000 | $9,404 | $77,464 | 68% | $15,500 | $22,633 |
| UC IrvineUC | $296,000 | $13,866 | $83,432 | 87% | $12,821 | $39,170 |
| USCPrivate | $292,000 | $33,056 | $103,420 | 90% | $17,000 | $95,048 |
| Cal State FullertonCal State | $285,000 | $5,115 | $69,015 | 68% | $13,594 | $17,787 |
| Santa Clara UniversityPrivate | $285,000 | $50,570 | $117,193 | 87% | $19,500 | $84,261 |
| San Francisco StateCal State | $278,000 | $9,803 | $73,299 | 50% | $15,000 | $25,244 |
| UC Santa BarbaraUC | $276,000 | $16,807 | $82,568 | 84% | $11,776 | $44,833 |
| Cal State StanislausCal State | $275,000 | $3,565 | $65,560 | 52% | $13,000 | $17,570 |
| Cal State Los AngelesCal State | $274,000 | $2,385 | $62,555 | 55% | $14,576 | $17,767 |
| San Diego StateCal State | $270,000 | $13,243 | $73,494 | 78% | $14,500 | $26,045 |
How we computed the return
The 10-year return is our own calculation. It follows the method Georgetown University’s Center on Education and the Workforce publishes for its college rankings, applied by us to the October 2026 College Scorecard. We did not use or copy CEW’s figures.
- Return = earnings in years 6, 7, 8, 9 and 10 after starting college, minus five years of net price. Year 7 is the average of years 6 and 8; year 9 is the average of years 8 and 10. Nothing is discounted.
- Five years of net price because a bachelor’s takes about five years on average nationally. A student who finishes in four pays less.
- Earnings are Scorecard’s medians for former students who were working and not in school, all measured in 2022 and 2023, in 2024 dollars. The six-, eight- and ten-year figures come from students who started in different years (2015-17, 2013-15 and 2011-13), so the five years are stitched from three groups of students rather than one.
- Net price is Scorecard’s average for full-time first-year students who got federal aid, 2024-25. At a public college it is the in-state price. The income bands change only the price: Scorecard does not publish earnings by family income at this level.
- Scorecard’s earnings cover only students who received a federal grant or loan, graduates and those who left without a degree alike, and leave out anyone still enrolled in school in the year measured.
- We show a return only when Scorecard printed all three earnings figures and the net price. 18 of the 110 colleges here are missing one, usually for privacy in a small group.
Covered: every California public and private nonprofit college that grants mostly bachelor’s degrees, is operating, is not online-only, and has a printed ten-year earnings figure. Cal Poly Maritime Academy became part of Cal Poly San Luis Obispo in 2025; Scorecard still lists it on its own. Sticker cost is Scorecard’s cost of attendance for 2024-25; 2025-26 costs are not in any federal dataset yet. Median debt is federal loans of students who finished, 2024-25. Finish in 6 years is for students who started in fall 2019.
Where every number comes from
- College Scorecard, Most Recent Cohorts institution data, US Department of Education. Covers release of October 15, 2026: net prices for 2024-25, earnings for students who entered in 2011-12 to 2016-17.
We downloaded these files ourselves and computed every figure on this page from them. Where a publisher left a value blank for privacy, we left it blank too.
The odds for everyone, and yours
The numbers tell you the odds for everyone. A counselor tells you yours. Talk to one of ours, free.