by our College Data Analytics TeamWhittier College is a private not-for-profit institution in Whittier, California enrolling 764 undergraduates. It accepts 81% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 60%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #860 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 17%), 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.
Whittier College ranks #860 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 17%.
In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.
Whittier College was awarded 4 badges in the 2027 rankings.
Whittier is ranked #860 out of 5,159 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges list. This puts it in the top 20% of all schools in the nation.
Within the state, Whittier holds the #101 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.
See all of the rankings for Whittier College.
Whittier College has an acceptance rate of 81%, which makes it somewhat selective. Make sure it’s not the only school you apply to, even if it’s your school of choice. Whether you get in or not will largely depend on how you compare to other applicants.
Learn more about Whittier College admissions.
At Whittier, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 8 to 1. That’s much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunities to work closely with their professors and classmates.
When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.
The full-time faculty percentage at Whittier College is 74%. This is higher than the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate tells us what percentage of first-year, full-time students choose to continue on to their sophomore year at a particular school. The rate at Whittier College is 66%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at Whittier for first-time, full-time students is 60%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Whittier College.
During the most recent academic year, there were 764 undergraduates at Whittier.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Whittier College.
The overall average net price of Whittier 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 + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $21,718 | $19,928 | $24,973 | $26,718 | $30,599 |
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 Whittier, 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 Whittier, approximately 54% of students took out student loans averaging $6,635 a year. That adds up to $26,540 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 3.7%. 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 Whittier College.
Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor’s degree recipients from Whittier College make around $59,492 per year during the early years of their employment. This is good news for future Whittier College graduates since it is 21% more than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year.
See which majors at Whittier College make the most money.
Whittier College is an private not-for-profit institution found in Whittier, California. Whittier is a good match for students who enjoy the safety and convenience of the suburbs. Get more details about the location of Whittier College.
Get in touch with Whittier College can be found below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 13406 E Philadelphia Street, Whittier, CA 90601 |
| Phone: | 5629074205 |
| Website: | www.whittier.edu |
| Wikipedia: | en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whittier_College |
| Facebook: | facebook.com/whittiercollege |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/WhittierCollege |
During the most recent year for which we have data, students from 20 majors graduated from Whittier College. 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 | 239 | NA |
| Business Administration & Management | 49 | $36,650 |
| Health & Physical Education | 28 | $25,185 |
| General Psychology | 25 | $27,562 |
| General Biology | 13 | $22,976 |
| Child Development & Family Studies | 12 | NA |
| Liberal Arts General Studies | 10 | NA |
| General English Literature | 9 | $22,750 |
| Romance Languages | 9 | $27,103 |
| History | 9 | NA |
127 students took at least one online class at Whittier College.
Online courses are a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.
Learn more about online learning at Whittier College.
Want to see how other colleges compare to Whittier? Pit them head to head with College Combat, a free interactive tool for comparing colleges on the features you care about.
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.
References