Pasadena City College

Overview

Rankings

• #9 Most Affordable Colleges in California
• #12 Best Community Colleges
• #13 Best Vocational & Technical Schools
• #15 Best Online Colleges in California
• #20 Best Online Education Programs in California
• #23 Most Affordable Hispanic-Serving Institutions
• #25 Best Business Colleges in California
• #28 Best Colleges in California

Academics & Admissions

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

Pasadena City College, located in Pasadena, California, enrolls students across a range of programs. The graduation rate is roughly 44%.

Retention Rate

76%

Full-Time Faculty

44%

Faculty Salary (mo)

$9,708

Student–Faculty Ratio

22:1

Diversity Index

0.69

First-Gen Students

56%

Cost & Financial Aid

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

Published tuition at Pasadena City College is $9,820, 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 $3,864. Students from families earning under $30,000 typically pay closer to $3,051 after need-based grants. The median graduate leaves with about $6,651 in federal student loans.

In-State Tuition

$1,180

Out-of-State

$9,820

Avg Net Price

$3,864

Median Debt

$6,651

Pell Grant Rate

31%

Federal Loan Rate

1%

Students Like You

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

Ten years out, alumni of Pasadena City College report median earnings of $43,937, a figure worth comparing against the cost of attendance before enrolling.

6 Years After Entry

$32,759

8 Years

$37,317

10 Years

$43,937

Debt-to-Earnings

0.15x

Earning > $25K

47%

Social Mobility

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

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

Pasadena City 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 4.81%, among the highest in the country. Access is a real strength here. Roughly 27.9% 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 17.2% go on to reach the top of the income ladder. The median family income of students sits near $44,600, a snapshot of the campus's socioeconomic mix.

Mobility Rate

4.81%

Bottom 20% → Top 20%

Success Rate

17.2%

If bottom 20% get in

From Bottom 20%

27.9%

Share of students

Parent Median Income

$60,596

today's $ (2015 cohort data)

Social Capital

Data: Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas

How Connected Is Pasadena City 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 Pasadena City College. Its economic connectedness score is 1.25, where about 1.0 is the national norm. Its friending bias sits near the middle of the range (0.10). Around 4% of students take part in civic and volunteering activity.

Economic Connectedness

1.25

Cross-class friendships

Friending Bias

0.10

Lower = more inclusive

Volunteering Rate

3.8%

Support Ratio

0.91

Community support

Innovation & Knowledge Creation

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

Pasadena City College produces inventors at a measurable rate, with 30 patents tied to its graduates.

Inventor Rate

0.18%

Top 79% nationally

Patents Produced

30

Linked to graduates

Patent Citations

176

Downstream influence

Inventors From Low-Income

0.21%

Bottom-20% families

Top Programs

The fields Pasadena City 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 22%
• Business & Marketing 15% $14,521 early-career
• Health Professions 13% $80,891 early-career
• Social Sciences 5%
• Psychology 3% $17,746 early-career
• Visual & Performing Arts 3%
• Mechanic & Repair Tech 2%
• Communications 2% $31,312 early-career

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.