Cuesta College

Overview

Rankings

• #38 Best Online Colleges in California

Academics & Admissions

Is It Hard to Get Into Cuesta College? Acceptance Rate & Requirements

As a public institution in San Luis Obispo, California, Cuesta College enrolls students across a range of programs. The graduation rate is roughly 46%.

Retention Rate

73%

Full-Time Faculty

32%

Faculty Salary (mo)

$11,897

Student–Faculty Ratio

27:1

Diversity Index

0.63

First-Gen Students

43%

Cost & Financial Aid

How Much Does It Cost to Attend Cuesta College? Tuition, Net Price & Aid

Published tuition at Cuesta College is $11,010, 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 $12,124. Students from families earning under $30,000 typically pay closer to $10,414 after need-based grants. The median graduate leaves with about $13,750 in federal student loans.

In-State Tuition

$1,350

Out-of-State

$11,010

Avg Net Price

$12,124

Median Debt

$13,750

Pell Grant Rate

18%

Federal Loan Rate

2%

Students Like You

Tell us a little about yourself to see what students like you have typically experienced at Cuesta College — 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 Cuesta College Worth It? Graduate Earnings & ROI

Ten years out, alumni of Cuesta College earn a median of $46,047, roughly in line with the national average for college graduates.

6 Years After Entry

$38,541

8 Years

$42,739

10 Years

$46,047

Debt-to-Earnings

0.3x

Earning > $25K

57%

Social Mobility

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

Does Cuesta College Drive Upward Mobility? Economic Mobility & Low-Income Outcomes

Cuesta College 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 1.77%, well above the typical college. Access is a real strength here. Roughly 10.6% of students come from families in the bottom income quintile, a high share that gives low-income students a real foothold. Among bottom-quintile students who attend, roughly 16.7% go on to reach the top of the income ladder. The median family income of students sits near $79,900, a snapshot of the campus's socioeconomic mix.

Mobility Rate

1.77%

Bottom 20% → Top 20%

Success Rate

16.7%

If bottom 20% get in

From Bottom 20%

10.6%

Share of students

Parent Median Income

$108,556

today's $ (2015 cohort data)

Social Capital

Data: Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas

How Connected Is Cuesta College? Social Capital & Cross-Class Networks

Social capital, the web of cross-class friendships that researchers link to long-run upward mobility, runs high at Cuesta College. Its economic connectedness score is 1.29, where about 1.0 is the national norm. Its friending bias sits near the middle of the range (0.06). Around 10% of students take part in civic and volunteering activity.

Economic Connectedness

1.29

Cross-class friendships

Friending Bias

0.06

Lower = more inclusive

Volunteering Rate

9.6%

Support Ratio

0.98

Community support

Innovation & Knowledge Creation

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

Cuesta College produces inventors at a measurable rate, with 21 patents tied to its graduates.

Inventor Rate

0.21%

Top 75% nationally

Patents Produced

21

Linked to graduates

Patent Citations

60

Downstream influence

Inventors From Low-Income

0.20%

Bottom-20% families

Institutional Finances

Data: NCES IPEDS

Investment Income

$110,713

Top Programs

The fields Cuesta College 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 42%
• Health Professions 16% $94,918 early-career
• Business & Marketing 10% $28,834 early-career
• Social Sciences 4%
• Education 3%
• Psychology 3%
• Visual & Performing Arts 2%
• Culinary & Personal Services 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.