A big CC in
Monterey Park with mixed signals
You're deciding whether to spend your first two years at East Los Angeles College before finishing a bachelor's elsewhere in California. The college is large, but its transfer rate, net price, and completion data deserve a careful look before you commit.
33,677 undergrads, 19% transfer out by year 8, median $42k 10-yr earnings, $10,500 median debt.
A large East LA CC with a below-average transfer-out rate and high net price
East Los Angeles College enrolls 33,677 undergrads in Monterey Park — one of California's larger community colleges. Yet only 19% of students transfer to a four-year institution within eight years, below the national norm. The net price of $10,852 is unusually high for a California community college, and in-state tuition runs $1,196. Median earnings ten years out are $42k, and median debt is $10,500. Liberal Arts and Sciences leads completions at 1,446 annually, followed by Social Sciences at 952. The 0% three-year loan default rate is a genuine positive. Students considering ELAC as a transfer launchpad should go in with a concrete plan — the institutional signals are mixed.
East Los Angeles College sits in Monterey Park, California, and enrolls 33,677 undergraduates — one of the larger community colleges in the state. Nearly 83% attend part-time, meaning most students are balancing coursework with work or family commitments, and that reality stretches completion timelines significantly. Liberal Arts and Sciences is the dominant program by volume, with 1,446 completions, followed by Social Sciences at 952 and two Criminal Justice tracks combining for roughly 593 more. The eight-year transfer-out rate is 19%, which lands below the 20–25% range typical of functioning transfer pipelines; an additional 1.8% were still enrolled at the eight-year mark. Median earnings ten years after enrollment are $42,000, and median debt is $10,500. In-state tuition is $1,196, but the net price of $10,852 is high for a California CC — a signal that grant aid does not fully offset costs here. The 0% three-year loan default rate is the clearest positive in the data. Students targeting a bachelor's degree should enter with a specific transfer timeline, not rely on ELAC's institutional momentum alone.
What this CC teaches at scale
| Program | Completions |
|---|---|
| Liberal Arts and Sciences/Liberal Studies. | 1,446 |
| Social Sciences, General. | 952 |
| Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration. | 303 |
| Biological and Physical Sciences. | 301 |
| Criminal Justice/Police Science. | 290 |
| Business Administration and Management, General. | 260 |
| Psychology, General. | 230 |
| Child Care Provider/Assistant. | 228 |
| Humanities/Humanistic Studies. | 179 |
| Fire Science/Fire-fighting. | 160 |
Source · IPEDS completions (all undergraduate credentials).
Where California transfers tend to go
Reflects state-aggregated IPEDS transfer-in volume — CC-specific destinations are not publicly available from IPEDS or the College Scorecard.
Frequently asked
- Is East Los Angeles College a good place to start a bachelor's degree?
- It depends on how disciplined your transfer plan is. ELAC's eight-year transfer-out rate is 19%, which is below the 20–25% range seen at stronger California transfer feeders. In-state tuition is $1,196, but the net price of $10,852 is high for a California CC, suggesting financial aid coverage is limited. Median earnings ten years out are $42,000, and median debt is $10,500 — manageable, but not cheap. The 0% three-year loan default rate is a real positive. The school has genuine scale and strong completions in Liberal Arts and Social Sciences, which are transferable fields. But the below-average transfer rate means success here requires your own initiative, not passive institutional momentum.
- How does East Los Angeles College's transfer-out rate compare to typical community colleges?
- ELAC's eight-year transfer-out rate is 19%. National benchmarks place the typical community college transfer rate in the 15–25% range, so ELAC sits at the lower end of that window. Given that 83% of ELAC students attend part-time — which commonly extends timelines and introduces stop-out risk — a 19% rate over eight years reflects modest transfer throughput. An additional 1.8% were still enrolled at the eight-year mark. The 32.8% completion rate at ELAC itself is meaningful: many students finish a credential here rather than transferring, which is a legitimate outcome but means the transfer pipeline is thinner than the total enrollment size suggests.
- What programs does East Los Angeles College offer at meaningful scale?
- ELAC's highest-volume programs by completions are Liberal Arts and Sciences (1,446), Social Sciences (952), Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Administration (303), Biological and Physical Sciences (301), and Criminal Justice/Police Science (290). Business Administration adds 260 completions, Psychology 230, and Child Care Provider/Assistant 228. Liberal Arts and Social Sciences are the clear anchors — together they account for nearly 2,400 annual completions and represent fields commonly used as transfer pathways into California four-year universities. The Criminal Justice cluster is also genuinely developed, with nearly 600 combined completions across two tracks.
Methodology — Transfer signals reflect IPEDS Outcome Measures 8-year cohorts; earnings and debt come from the College Scorecard. Destinations are state-aggregated; we do not claim CC-specific transfer destinations without authoritative per-student tracking data.