Saint Mary's
College of California
Private College in Moraga, CA. Six-year graduation rate 70%. Median 10-year earnings $78,812.
Ten-year median earnings of $78,812 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. 70% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Median debt at graduation is $23,691, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree. It also moves people — 2.9% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution 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 0.30 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Admission is not the constraint here: 87% of applicants are accepted. 5,175 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Yield is low at 10%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling.
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 Saint Mary's College of California →Academics
70% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. First-year retention of 85% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. The 10:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. This is a private nonprofit four-year college, so read every rate on this page against that peer group specifically.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,024 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price averages $35,332 annually, so cost is the first thing to weigh here. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $19,462 at the $0–30k band to $40,581 at $110k+. Most students get help: 96% receive grants worth $39,110 on average. Federal borrowing reaches 42% of students.
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 · 499 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 | $19,462 |
| $30–48k | $20,127 |
| $48–75k | $23,303 |
| $75–110k | $29,049 |
| $110k+ | $40,581 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 852 of these 2,024 students, totalling $5,714,985 — an average of $6,708 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Contra Costa 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)