Westmont College
Private College in Santa Barbara, CA. Six-year graduation rate 70%. Median 10-year earnings $64,778.
A decade after enrolling, the median Westmont College student earns $64,778 — comfortably above what the typical bachelor's-granting institution returns. 70% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Median debt at graduation is $23,250, roughly typical for an undergraduate degree.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
77% of applicants get in, so the odds favor most reasonably prepared students. 2,479 students applied in the most recent cycle — a mid-sized pool drawn mostly from the surrounding region. Only 16% of admitted students enroll — the great majority of admits go elsewhere or nowhere. 20% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score. The bands below describe the middle half of that group, not of the 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 | 630–750 | 61 (20%) |
| SAT Math | 610–700 | |
| ACT Composite | 25–32 | 20 (7%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Westmont College →Academics
A 70% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. 85% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. At 10:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. 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 1,309 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay $32,172 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. The income table below is the number that matters — $20,899 at $0–30k versus $38,124 at $110k+. 98% of students get grant aid averaging $35,749, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. About 51% 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.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 319 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 | $20,899 |
| $30–48k | $15,492 |
| $48–75k | $19,867 |
| $75–110k | $24,524 |
| $110k+ | $38,124 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 674 of these 1,309 students, totalling $4,347,626 — an average of $6,450 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Santa Barbara 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)