CET-Salinas
Private College in Salinas, CA. Median 10-year earnings $32,986.
Ten-year median earnings of $32,986 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Graduates leave owing a median of $7,041 — modest by four-year standards.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.21 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
This institution reports no six-year graduation rate. The federal measure only follows first-time, full-time students, so schools built around part-time or transfer enrollment often fall outside it entirely. First-year retention of 84% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. At 21:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution. As a private nonprofit short-program school, the relevant comparison is other two-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions. At 306 undergraduates, expect a small, closely-held student body.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 306 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $4,201 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The gap between the $0–30k and $48–75k bands is narrow ($6,580 versus $8,860), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. About 58% get grants averaging $15,719, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. Only 9% 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 · 119 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 | $6,580 |
| $30–48k | $4,799 |
| $48–75k | $8,860 |
| $75–110k | — |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 27 of these 306 students, totalling $180,469 — an average of $6,684 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Monterey County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026