College of the Canyons

Overview

Rankings

• #6 Most Affordable Colleges in California
• #15 Best Community Colleges
• #16 Best Online Colleges in California
• #18 Most Affordable Hispanic-Serving Institutions
• #24 Best Vocational & Technical Schools
• #29 Best Colleges in California
• #31 Most Affordable Online Public Universities
• #35 Best Business Colleges in California

Academics & Admissions

Is It Hard to Get Into College of the Canyons? Acceptance Rate & Requirements

Based in Santa Clarita, California, College of the Canyons enrolls students across a range of programs. The graduation rate is roughly 44%.

Retention Rate

70%

Full-Time Faculty

27%

Faculty Salary (mo)

$13,560

Student–Faculty Ratio

26:1

Diversity Index

0.65

First-Gen Students

51%

Cost & Financial Aid

How Much Does It Cost to Attend College of the Canyons? Tuition, Net Price & Aid

Published tuition at College of the Canyons is $10,958, but few families pay that. The number to watch is net price, what students actually pay each year after federal grants and institutional scholarships. Here it averages about $3,702. Students from families earning under $30,000 typically pay closer to $2,522 after need-based grants. The median graduate leaves with about $9,612 in federal student loans.

In-State Tuition

$1,166

Out-of-State

$10,958

Avg Net Price

$3,702

Median Debt

$9,612

Pell Grant Rate

18%

Federal Loan Rate

1%

Students Like You

Tell us a little about yourself to see what students like you have typically experienced at College of the Canyons — the net price for your income, your admission odds, and the outcomes that follow. These are patterns from federal data, not predictions.

Graduate Outcomes

Is College of the Canyons Worth It? Graduate Earnings & ROI

Ten years out, alumni of College of the Canyons earn a median of $49,022, roughly in line with the national average for college graduates.

6 Years After Entry

$37,697

8 Years

$42,367

10 Years

$49,022

Debt-to-Earnings

0.2x

Earning > $25K

52%

Social Mobility

Data: Raj Chetty's Mobility Report Card · 30M+ anonymized tax records

Does College of the Canyons Drive Upward Mobility? Economic Mobility & Low-Income Outcomes

College of the Canyons is a genuine engine of upward mobility. Its mobility rate, the share of students who start in the bottom income quintile and climb to the top, is 1.58%, well above the typical college. About 9.3% of students come from families in the bottom income quintile. Among bottom-quintile students who attend, roughly 17% go on to reach the top of the income ladder. The median family income of students sits near $88,200, a snapshot of the campus's socioeconomic mix.

Mobility Rate

1.58%

Bottom 20% → Top 20%

Success Rate

17.0%

If bottom 20% get in

From Bottom 20%

9.3%

Share of students

Parent Median Income

$119,833

today's $ (2015 cohort data)

Social Capital

Data: Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas

How Connected Is College of the Canyons? Social Capital & Cross-Class Networks

Social capital, the web of cross-class friendships that researchers link to long-run upward mobility, runs high at College of the Canyons. Its economic connectedness score is 1.48, where about 1.0 is the national norm. Its friending bias is low (0.03), a sign that students from different economic backgrounds actually mix rather than self-segregate. Around 5% of students take part in civic and volunteering activity.

Economic Connectedness

1.48

Cross-class friendships

Friending Bias

0.03

Lower = more inclusive

Volunteering Rate

4.5%

Support Ratio

0.97

Community support

Innovation & Knowledge Creation

Patents, inventors, and research influence · Opportunity Insights & Times Higher Education

College of the Canyons produces inventors at a measurable rate, with 26 patents tied to its graduates.

Inventor Rate

0.11%

Top 95% nationally

Patents Produced

26

Linked to graduates

Patent Citations

123

Downstream influence

Institutional Finances

Data: NCES IPEDS

Endowment

$2,499,899

Investment Income

$-3,624,611

Top Programs

The fields College of the Canyons awards the most degrees in, by share of completions. Where federal field-of-study data exists, we show what graduates in that major earned early in their careers. Each links to its degree guide — or see what someone with your income, scores, and major would pay and earn here in the Students Like You simulator.

• Humanities 27%
• Social Sciences 14% $25,556 early-career
• Business & Marketing 12% $31,312 early-career
• Health Professions 6% $85,576 early-career
• Psychology 5% $20,392 early-career
• Visual & Performing Arts 4%
• Criminal Justice 2%
• Legal Studies 2%

Early-career median earnings by major (typically 1–2 years after completion, bachelor's level where available), in today's dollars (CPI-adjusted). Source: U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard field of study. Distinct from the school-wide 10-year median; suppressed for small programs.