CollegeNumbers  /  Schools  /  University of California-Santa Barbara
Common Data Set 2025-2026

University of California-Santa Barbara

CA · Public · ~23,100 undergraduates

View University of California-Santa Barbara's complete Common Data Set on CollegeNumbers
Acceptance rate · 2025-2026
38.2%

University of California-Santa Barbara's admit rate has risen 8.8 percentage points across the 6 reported years on file.

SAT · 50th
6-yr grad
84.0%
Retention 93.5%
Undergrads
23,091
18:1 student-faculty
Drawn directly from University of California-Santa Barbara's officially-published 2025-2026 Common Data Set.
University of California-Santa Barbara Admission

At a glance

The headline numbers, drawn from CDS sections A–H.

Admit rate38.2% Undergraduates23,091 6-yr graduation84.0% Retention93.5% Tuition (FT)$53,472 Student–faculty ratio18:1

Recent years

Per-cycle Common Data Set values. Enrolled is first-year matriculants (CDS B1), not total undergraduate population. Blank cells mean the field was not published in that year's source CDS.

YearAdmit rateEnrolled6-yr gradRetentionSAT (50th)
2025-202638.2%5,08184.0%93.5%
2024-202533.0%5,00883.0%93.3%
2023-202427.8%5,04386.0%92.0%
2022-202325.8%4,96886.0%92.0%
2021-202229.1%4,80789.0%91.0%

Schools also worth looking at

Cross-admits and statistical look-alikes, surfaced from the CollegeNumbers peer model.

What the data says about University of California-Santa Barbara

Comparative observations derived from this school's reported CDS values and from IPEDS / College Scorecard reference data. Every claim is grounded in a number — no editorial overlay.

01

Cross-admit cohort spans an unusually wide selectivity range.

The schools University of California-Santa Barbara applicants most commonly also apply to range from 9.4% admit to 72.7% admit — a 63.3 pp band. A reasonable read: applicants choose by region or program fit rather than selectivity tier alone.

02

Six-year graduation rate exceeds the national median by 28 percentage points.

University of California-Santa Barbara's 84.0% six-year graduation rate exceeds the national 4-year-institution median of 56.3% (per IPEDS, n=1555) by 27.7 pp.

03

Cross-admits concentrated in the home region.

6 of 7 cross-admit schools are in CA — University of California-Santa Barbara draws applicants weighing it against in-state and adjacent-state alternatives, not coastal or selective national peers.

Sources: each school's officially-published Common Data Set; IPEDS / College Scorecard for federal comparisons. Methodology →

See University of California-Santa Barbara next to peer schools

Compare every CDS field — admissions, aid, outcomes — side by side.

Open in CollegeNumbers compare
Methodology

The Common Data Set is a standardized reporting form U.S. colleges file annually — sections A through J covering admissions selectivity, enrollment, aid, faculty resources, and outcomes. CollegeNumbers extracts every value directly from each school's officially published CDS PDF, xlsx, docx, or HTML, then normalizes into a unified schema.

Federal data layers — College Scorecard, EADA athletics, Clery campus safety, FSA financial responsibility — are joined on top. Every value traces back to its primary source. All covered schools →