undergradly.
Public Research University

California State
University-East Bay

Public Research University in Hayward, CA. Six-year graduation rate 48%. Median 10-year earnings $71,401.

Verdict High-return
California State University-East Bay · Campus
Median earnings · 10 yr
$71,401
Median debt at grad
$16,544
Mobility score
4.3
% bottom→top quintile
Graduation rate
48%
Federal loan default
0%

Students who entered California State University-East Bay reach a median of $71,401 ten years later, which puts this school in the upper band of undergraduate earnings outcomes. Six-year completion sits at 48%, near the national average for undergraduate institutions. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $16,544, neither a bargain nor a burden. On economic mobility, 4.3% of students travel from the bottom income quintile to the top.

Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.

Green Flags
  • Debt-to-income ratio 0.23 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
  • 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Red Flags

Admissions

Acceptance rate
97%
Applicants
11,867
Yield rate
6.9%

California State University-East Bay admits 97% of applicants — effectively open admission, so the application is a formality rather than a hurdle. With 11,867 applications received, this is a school operating at national scale. A 7% yield rate is low: the admitted pool is much larger than the entering class.

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
SAT Math
ACT Composite

IPEDS Admissions · 2024

Apply at California State University-East Bay →

Academics

Full-time retention
76%
Transfer-out rate
5%
Student:faculty
22:1

Completion is middling: 48% finish inside six years. 76% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in four are gone before sophomore year. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. A 22:1 ratio is unremarkable; expect a mix of lecture halls and seminars. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor.

Financial Aid

Average net price
$9,850
Full-time, first-time undergraduates paying the in-state rate who were awarded grant or scholarship aid
% receiving grants
66%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
% receiving federal loans
26%
degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 10,422 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates

Average net price is $9,850 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $6,360 at the $0–30k band to $19,397 at $110k+. 66% of students receive grant aid, averaging $11,435 — common but not automatic. About 26% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.

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.

% receiving grants
79%
Average grant
$12,369

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 975 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 $6,360
$30–48k $7,031
$48–75k $8,990
$75–110k $12,015
$110k+ $19,397

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Federal student loans went to 2,757 of these 10,422 students, totalling $20,266,344 — an average of $7,351 each.

IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24

Local housing costs

Typical rents near campus (Alameda County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.

Studio
$2,142/mo
1 bedroom
$2,385/mo
2 bedroom (whole unit)
$2,912/mo

HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026

Veterans & GI Bill

GI Bill students
242
Yellow Ribbon
No
Principles of Excellence
No

VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)

Compare California State University-East Bay with peer institutions

How we evaluate California State University-East Bay

IPEDS
US Department of Education
College Scorecard
Post-grad earnings
Census PSEO
Earnings by major
Opportunity Insights
Mobility by institution
Read our full methodology →