California Lutheran University
Private College in Thousand Oaks, CA. Six-year graduation rate 70%. Median 10-year earnings $68,712.
Ten-year median earnings of $68,712 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. Completion is a strength: 70% of students finish within six years. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $21,669, neither a bargain nor a burden.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.32 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
An acceptance rate of 76% puts California Lutheran University on the accessible end — a realistic target for a broad range of applicants. 6,005 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Only 11% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 13% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 590–670 | 65 (13%) |
| SAT Math | 560–660 | |
| ACT Composite | 24–31 | 16 (3%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at California Lutheran University →Academics
Six-year completion runs to 70% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. 79% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in five are gone before sophomore year. Transfer-out runs to 27% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. A 13:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,374 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price averages $32,774 annually, so cost is the first thing to weigh here. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $22,161 at the $0–30k band to $38,364 at $110k+. Grant aid is widespread — 97% of students receive it, averaging $31,632. 50% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 575 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $22,161 |
| $30–48k | $23,668 |
| $48–75k | $24,318 |
| $75–110k | $29,303 |
| $110k+ | $38,364 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,185 of these 2,374 students, totalling $7,629,575 — an average of $6,438 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Ventura County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)