by our College Data Analytics TeamUniversity of California-Santa Cruz is a public institution in Santa Cruz, California enrolling 17,940 undergraduates. It accepts 66% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 75%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #153 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 3%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
University of California-Santa Cruz ranks #153 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 3%.
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.
University of California-Santa Cruz was awarded 240 badges in the 2027 rankings.
According to College Factual’s 2027 analysis, UC Santa Cruz is ranked #153 out of 5,159 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This puts it in the top 5% of all schools in the nation.
Within the state, UC Santa Cruz holds the #29 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.
See all of the rankings for University of California-Santa Cruz.
University of California-Santa Cruz has an acceptance rate of 66%, which means the school is serious about who it admits. Take your time in putting together a strong application that highlights why you are a good fit for UC Santa Cruz.
Learn more about University of California-Santa Cruz admissions.
The student to faculty ratio at University of California-Santa Cruz is 22 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 University of California-Santa Cruz is 85%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
University of California-Santa Cruz has a freshmen retention rate of 88%. That’s a good sign that full-time students like the school and their professors enough to want to stick around for another year. It’s also a sign that the admissions team did a good job in choosing applicants who were a good fit for the school.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at UC Santa Cruz for first-time, full-time students is 75%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at University of California-Santa Cruz.
In the current academic year, there are 17,940 undergraduates at UC Santa Cruz.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at University of California-Santa Cruz.
The overall average net price of UC Santa Cruz is $17,140. 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.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $8,717 | $10,613 | $14,418 | $18,986 | $33,323 |
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 UC Santa Cruz, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
Almost 66% of college students who graduated with the class of 2018 took out student loans, but that percentage varies from school to school. At UC Santa Cruz, approximately 28% of students took out student loans averaging $5,732 a year. That adds up to $22,928 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 4.3%. 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 University of California-Santa Cruz.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from University of California-Santa Cruz make around $68,396 per year during the early years of their employment. This is good news for future University of California-Santa Cruz graduates since it is 39% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at University of California-Santa Cruz make the most money.
University of California-Santa Cruz is an public institution situated in Santa Cruz, California. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life. Get more details about the location of University of California-Santa Cruz.
Contact information for University of California-Santa Cruz can be found below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 1156 High St, Santa Cruz, CA 95064-1011 |
| Phone: | 8314590111 |
| Website: | www.ucsc.edu/ |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/University_of_California,_Santa_Cruz |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/ucsantacruz |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/ucsc |
In the most recent reporting year, students from 22 majors graduated from University of California-Santa Cruz. 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 | 5,660 | NA |
| Computer Science | 773 | $63,040 |
| Behavioral Science | 541 | NA |
| Managerial Economics | 262 | $46,826 |
| Natural Resources Conservation | 208 | $28,054 |
| Sociology | 199 | $27,765 |
| Computer Engineering | 197 | $75,207 |
| Linguistics & Literature | 193 | $23,717 |
| General Biology | 184 | $29,134 |
| Cognitive Science | 182 | $33,286 |
5,253 students took at least one online class at University of California-Santa Cruz.
Online learning options are becoming more and more popular at American colleges and universities. Online classes are great for students who have busy schedules or for those who just want to study on their own time.
Learn more about online learning at University of California-Santa Cruz.
Curious how schools stack up against UC Santa Cruz? Compare them side by side using College Combat, our free interactive tool that lets you compare colleges on the features that matter most to you.
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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