California State University-Sacramento
Public College in Sacramento, CA. Six-year graduation rate 56%. Median 10-year earnings $64,876.
Ten-year median earnings of $64,876 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. The six-year graduation rate is 56%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Borrowing stays contained, with median debt at graduation of $15,000. On economic mobility, 3.3% 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.23 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Admission is not the constraint here: 94% of applicants are accepted. The applicant pool is large — 27,702 in the most recent cycle — so the published rate reflects genuine competition rather than a small-sample quirk. A 15% 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-Sacramento →Academics
56% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. First-year retention of 82% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest 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. Part-time students fare worse, returning at 53% — relevant if you plan to work while enrolled. A 24:1 ratio means students need to be deliberate about getting faculty time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 27,867 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $10,110 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. The income table below is the number that matters — $6,501 at $0–30k versus $18,861 at $110k+. 72% of students receive grant aid, averaging $12,036 — common but not automatic. Only 23% take federal loans. Private borrowing is not captured in this figure.
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 · 3,782 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 | $6,501 |
| $30–48k | $7,001 |
| $48–75k | $9,212 |
| $75–110k | $11,814 |
| $110k+ | $18,861 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 6,450 of these 27,867 students, totalling $44,062,308 — an average of $6,831 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Sacramento 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)