Santa Clara University

Overview

Rankings

• #1 Highest-Paying Colleges for Communications
• #2 Best Business Colleges in California
• #3 Best MBA Programs in California
• #5 Highest-Paying Colleges for Business
• #5 Highest-Paying Colleges for Accounting
• #5 Highest-Paying Colleges for Finance
• #5 Highest-Paying Colleges for Marketing
• #5 Highest-Paying Colleges for Management

Academics & Admissions

Is It Hard to Get Into Santa Clara University? Acceptance Rate & Requirements

As a private institution in Santa Clara, California, Santa Clara University reviews applications selectively. The acceptance rate runs near 48%. Admitted students typically arrive with an average SAT score near 1,426. The graduation rate is roughly 88%.

Acceptance Rate

48%

Retention Rate

94%

SAT Average

1426

ACT Midpoint

32

SAT Range

1350–1490

ACT Range

31–33

Full-Time Faculty

72%

Faculty Salary (mo)

$14,682

Student–Faculty Ratio

12:1

Diversity Index

0.77

First-Gen Students

17%

Applicants

16,650

Admitted

8,677

Inside the Admissions Office

School-reported Common Data Set · 2024-25

The acceptance rate tells you how hard Santa Clara University is to get into. Its Common Data Set tells you what happens once you are admitted: how many students say yes, how many arrived without test scores, and whether applying early tilts the odds. 18% of admitted students go on to enroll here, making it a school most admitted students ultimately pass on.

Yield Rate

18%

of admits enroll

Submitted SAT

24%

of enrolled freshmen

Submitted ACT

10%

of enrolled freshmen

Early Decision Admit Rate

80.1%

vs 48.0% overall

Cost & Financial Aid

How Much Does It Cost to Attend Santa Clara University? Tuition, Net Price & Aid

Published tuition at Santa Clara University is $61,293, 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 $50,062. Students from families earning under $30,000 typically pay closer to $22,985 after need-based grants. The median graduate leaves with about $19,162 in federal student loans.

In-State Tuition

$61,293

Out-of-State

$61,293

Avg Net Price

$50,062

Median Debt

$19,162

Pell Grant Rate

11%

Federal Loan Rate

37%

Students Like You

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

Ten years out, alumni of Santa Clara University earn a median of $109,183, well above the national average for bachelor's degree holders.

6 Years After Entry

$91,198

8 Years

$99,543

10 Years

$109,183

Debt-to-Earnings

0.18x

Earning > $25K

83%

Social Mobility

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

Does Santa Clara University Drive Upward Mobility? Economic Mobility & Low-Income Outcomes

Santa Clara University 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 2.25%, among the highest in the country. Access is narrower: only about 3.6% of students come from the bottom income quintile, typical of more selective, higher-income institutions. Among bottom-quintile students who attend, roughly 62% go on to reach the top of the income ladder. The median family income of students sits near $149,900, a snapshot of the campus's socioeconomic mix.

Mobility Rate

2.25%

Bottom 20% → Top 20%

Success Rate

62.0%

If bottom 20% get in

From Bottom 20%

3.6%

Share of students

Parent Median Income

$203,662

today's $ (2015 cohort data)

Social Capital

Data: Opportunity Insights Social Capital Atlas

How Connected Is Santa Clara University? Social Capital & Cross-Class Networks

Social capital, the web of cross-class friendships that researchers link to long-run upward mobility, runs high at Santa Clara University. Its economic connectedness score is 1.89, where about 1.0 is the national norm. Its friending bias is low (-0.00), a sign that students from different economic backgrounds actually mix rather than self-segregate. Around 7% of students take part in civic and volunteering activity.

Economic Connectedness

1.89

Cross-class friendships

Friending Bias

-0.00

Lower = more inclusive

Volunteering Rate

6.6%

Support Ratio

1.00

Community support

Innovation & Knowledge Creation

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

Santa Clara University produces inventors at an above-average rate (top 21% nationally), with 61 patents tied to its graduates.

Inventor Rate

1.14%

Top 21% nationally

Patents Produced

61

Linked to graduates

Patent Citations

178

Downstream influence

Inventors From Low-Income

0.62%

Bottom-20% families

Institutional Finances

Data: NCES IPEDS

Federal Grants

$5,846,000

Investment Income

$-77,810,000

Top Programs

The fields Santa Clara University 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.

• Business & Marketing 27% $95,520 early-career
• Engineering 16% $122,917 early-career
• Social Sciences 11% $81,247 early-career
• Communications 6% $53,300 early-career
• Psychology 6% $36,992 early-career
• Computer Science & IT 6%
• Biology & Biomedical 6% $41,024 early-career
• Health Professions 4% $42,293 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.