by our College Data Analytics TeamIf you want to know more about California State University-Monterey Bay, such as what majors does it offer, how diverse it is, how well it ranks, and more, this is your one-stop resource.
College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.
California State University-Monterey Bay was awarded 85 badges in the 2026 rankings.
According to College Factual’s 2026 analysis, CSUMB is ranked #293 out of 3,449 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality.
Within the state, CSUMB holds the #53 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.
See all of the rankings for California State University-Monterey Bay.
With an acceptance rate of 97%, California State University-Monterey Bay is easier to get into than many other schools. But that doesn’t mean you can slack off on your application. Make sure to treat this school like any other when submitting requested materials and documents.
The student to faculty ratio at California State University-Monterey Bay is 24 to 1, which is high when compared to the national average of 15 to 1. This may indicate that some of your classes will be larger in size than they would be at other schools. However, upper level classes will probably be smaller.
In addition to the student to faculty ratio, some people look at what percentage of faculty members are full-time as a sign of how much time professors will be able to spend with their students. This is because part-time teachers may not be on campus as much as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at California State University-Monterey Bay is 47%. This is comparable to the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate of 79% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like California State University-Monterey Bay enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That’s certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.
Students are considered to have graduated on time if they finish their studies within four years. At CSUMB the on-time graduation rate of first-time, full-time students is 63%. That is great when compared to the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at California State University-Monterey Bay.
In the current academic year, there are 5,811 undergraduates at CSUMB.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at California State University-Monterey Bay.
The typical net cost at CSUMB is $16,772. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.### Net Price by Income Group for CSUMB
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $9,654 | $11,487 | $13,868 | $17,745 | $23,874 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of CSUMB, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At CSUMB, approximately 28% of students took out student loans averaging $5,030 a year. That adds up to $20,120 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 5.9%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you’ll be able to pay back your student loans. Get more details about paying for California State University-Monterey Bay.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from California State University-Monterey Bay make around $59,247 per year during the early years of their employment. This is good news for future California State University-Monterey Bay graduates since it is 20% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at California State University-Monterey Bay make the most money.
California State University-Monterey Bay is a public institution found in Seaside, California. Seaside is considered a suburb and offers tranquility and safety near the excitement of a city center. Get more details about the location of California State University-Monterey Bay.
Contact details for California State University-Monterey Bay are given below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 100 Campus Center, Seaside, CA 93955-8001 |
| Phone: | 8315823000 |
| Website: | www.csumb.edu |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/CSUMB |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/csumb |
In the latest year of available data, students from 20 majors graduated from California State University-Monterey Bay. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 2,115 | NA |
| Business Administration & Management | 320 | $58,687 |
| General Psychology | 250 | $28,861 |
| Liberal Arts General Studies | 238 | $29,259 |
| Computer Science | 199 | $59,412 |
| Health & Physical Education | 145 | $26,320 |
| Marine Science | 108 | $27,607 |
| General Biology | 93 | $31,700 |
| General Social Sciences | 85 | $31,594 |
| Natural Resources Conservation | 78 | $28,908 |
Online learning is becoming popular at even the oldest colleges and universities in the United States. Not only are online classes great for returning adults with busy schedules, they are also frequented by a growing number of traditional students.
3,693 students took at least one online class at California State University-Monterey Bay.
Learn more about online learning at California State University-Monterey Bay.
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
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