by our College Data Analytics TeamMany students will not be asked to pay the advertised price of a school. Instead, they will be provided a financial aid package that will include a combination of scholarships, grants, loans, and work-study. The price tag of going to Santa Barbara City College can appear overpowering, but remember that the majority of students obtain some kind of financial assistance.
Just what financial aid solutions can SBCC provide, and just what are you going to be eligible for? Keep reading for answers. Keep reading to discover how much school funding could be available to you.
The amount of financial aid and scholarships you are eligible for will vary depending on your family’s income. The figures below will help you estimate the aid you might receive from Santa Barbara City College.
Financial aid, in the form of loans, grants, work-study, and scholarships, is one way colleges reduce the cost of attendance so most students can actually afford to attend. Keep in mind that certain forms of assistance are more beneficial than others, and aid amounts differ from student to student.
Among first-time, full-time freshmen at Santa Barbara City College, 46% of first-year full-time students received aid of some kind (about 829 first-years).
| Type of Aid | % of Freshmen Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 41% | $5,889 |
| Institutional grants & scholarships | 1% | $2,210 |
| Federal Pell grants | 23% | $5,339 |
| State/local grants | 39% | $2,870 |
| Federal student loans | 5% | $5,199 |
Because grants and scholarships do not have to be repaid, they are the most sought-after type of financial aid. At SBCC, some 43% of the undergraduate population received grant aid that averaged $4,472 (across approximately 5288 awardees).
| Award | % of Undergrads Receiving | Average Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Grant or scholarship aid (all sources) | 43% | $4,472 |
| Federal Pell grants | 18% | $4,777 |
| Federal student loans | 4% | $6,262 |
Among title-IV aid recipients living on campus, grant and scholarship aid averaged $9,079.
Because need-based aid scales with family income, what students actually pay differs sharply across income brackets.
| Family Income | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| $0 – $48,000 | $8,489 |
| $30,001 – $75,000 | $10,552 |
| Over $75,000 | $16,798 |
The numbers above are post-aid net prices, so they already account for grants and scholarships.
The net price strips out grant and scholarship aid from the sticker price to show roughly what families really pay.
| Cohort | Average Net Price |
|---|---|
| On-campus title-IV students | $11,315 |
| Off-campus title-IV students | $10,029 |
To get a personalized net price estimate, try SBCC’s official net price calculator: misweb.cccco.edu/npc/651/npcalc.htm.
The median federal debt load at SBCC comes to $8,250 of cumulative federal debt.
| Metric | Amount |
|---|---|
| Median federal debt (all student-aid borrowers) | $8,250 |
| Median federal debt (graduates only) | $11,000 |
| Typical 10-year monthly payment (graduates) | $116.62/mo |
The 10-year payment estimate assumes a standard federal repayment plan and the median graduate debt amount.
The median alone does not show how widely outcomes vary across the student body. The figures below chart the debt distribution at SBCC.
| Percentile | Cumulative Federal Debt |
|---|---|
| 10th percentile (lowest-debt students) | $2,400 |
| 25th percentile | $3,800 |
| 75th percentile | $11,113 |
| 90th percentile (highest-debt students) | $20,796 |
Debt outcomes are not uniform — they shift with income, first-generation status, and dependency.
By Family Income
| Income tier | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Low income | $9,500 |
| Middle income | $7,500 |
| High income | $5,500 |
First-Generation Comparison
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| First-generation students | $8,250 |
| Continuing-generation students | $7,440 |
By Dependency Status
| Cohort | Median federal debt |
|---|---|
| Dependent students | $5,500 |
| Independent students | $9,864 |
Federal data publishes pre-calculated indicators that summarize debt outcomes. SBCC.
Stafford loans make up the bulk of federal direct lending to undergraduates. The aggregate figures below show how active the program is at SBCC:
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Stafford loan recipients | 13475 |
| Total Stafford loan amount | $150,082,961 |
The GI Bill and DoD Tuition Assistance are the main federal aid routes for veterans and service members.
Post-9/11 GI Bill recipients
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| GI Bill recipients | 0 |
| Total GI Bill amount | $0 |
DoD Tuition Assistance activity
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| DoD Tuition Assistance recipients | 0 |
| Total DoD amount | $0 |
References
More about our data sources and methodologies.