What You'll Actually Pay
Price after grants
$7,253 to $27,772 a year for in-state students, depending on income.
College Scorecard 2024 estimate · in-state rates
See the price at your income ↑Sticker price
Full cost before aid: $32,265 a year in-state. Average need-based aid package: $23,262.Aid and debt
36.4%
receive need-based grants
$21,588
average debt at graduation
2,033
students got merit aid
about 9% of undergraduates
$3,239
average merit award
Getting In
Key dates
Test scores
Cal Poly SLO does not use SAT or ACT scores in admission decisions. The ranges below describe only the students who submitted a score anyway — they were not part of the decision.
SAT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 1240–1420 · 18% of the class submitted
ACT, middle 50% of those who submitted: 28–33 · 5% of the class submitted
45.7% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What they value
- Very important
- Course rigor (AP/IB)
- GPA
- Considered
- Extracurriculars
- Special talent
- First-gen status
- Where you're from
- Volunteer work
- Work experience
- Not considered
- Class rank
- SAT/ACT scores
- Personal essay
- Recommendations
- Character
- Legacy status
- In-state residency
- Demonstrated interest
What this means for you
Cal Poly SLO rates course rigor as Very Important.
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Rigor means AP, IB, and dual enrollment carry real weight — make sure your mix of AP or IB courses is strong.
Cal Poly SLO doesn't consider demonstrated interest in admissions at all — visits and follow-up emails won't move the needle here.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section C7 (admissions factors)
Cal Poly SLO just showed you what it values in an application. Use that to write a Why-Cal Poly SLO essay that's actually about you — not a template.
Get sourced starting points for your essayStudent Life
19.4% of Cal Poly SLO classes have fewer than 20 students.
19.4%
under 20 students
70.1%
20 to 49
10.5%
50 or more
Every class section counts, labs and seminars included; first-year courses tend to be larger. Cal Poly SLO CDS 2025–26, I-3.
17:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus life
19.3%
first-years from out of state
39.24%
live on campus
13.4%
of men in fraternities
18.5%
of women in sororities
Who attends
- White45.7%
- Hispanic27.8%
- Asian13%
- Multiracial8.1%
- Unknown / other3.4%
- Black0.8%
Enrolled undergraduates; international students are counted separately and not included. Cal Poly SLO CDS 2025–26, B2.
Popular majors
Will They Graduate?
61.9% of Cal Poly SLO students graduate in 4 years.
61.9%
finish in 4 years
Entered fall 2019
87.3%
finish in 6 years
Entered fall 2019
95%
return after first year
Finishing late means paying for extra semesters, so the 4-year rate is the one that shows the cost.
Students with Pell Grants
81% finish in 6 years, against 87.3% of all students.
A 6.3-point gap: Pell Grant students finish less often than students overall.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in San Luis Obispo.
San Luis Obispo is a small, mild, walkable town halfway between Los Angeles and San Francisco, with the campus on its northern edge and hills immediately behind it.
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The downtown is compact enough to cross on foot, the weather barely moves, and the beach is fifteen minutes west.
The City
College town
San Luis Obispo, CA
Best For
Notable alumni
Notable Alumni
Burt Rutan
Designed Voyager, the first aircraft to fly around the world without refuelling, and SpaceShipOne, the first privately built craft to reach space. He graduated third in his class here in 1965 in aeronautical engineering.
Class of 1965
John Madden
Super Bowl-winning coach, broadcaster for three decades and the name on the best-selling football video game ever made. He took his degree here in 1959 and a master's in 1961.
Class of 1959
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Five-time Grammy winner and the best-selling comedy recording artist in history. He graduated here in 1980 — in architecture — and started recording in the campus radio station.
Class of 1980
Ozzie Smith
Baseball Hall of Famer and 13-time Gold Glove shortstop. He played here before signing professionally in 1977.
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
Traditions
Traditions
Learn by Doing
The university's stated method and its actual practice: laboratory, shop and project work from the first year, including a working farm, a rodeo team and student-run enterprises that sell what they produce.
The P on the hillside
A concrete letter above campus, first laid in 1919, that students repaint and light for homecoming.
Farmers' Market on Higuera Street
Thursday nights the downtown closes to cars for a street market. It is the fixed weekly ritual for students and the town together.
Poly Royal
An open house, running since 1933, where departments show what they have built over the year to tens of thousands of visitors.
Weekend escapes from San Luis Obispo
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from San Luis Obispo
Pismo Beach and Avila Beach
About 20 minutesThe nearest coast, with dunes, a pier and cheap food — the default afternoon off.
Paso Robles wine country
About 35 minutesRolling oak country with several hundred wineries, and the hot springs the town is named for.
Big Sur and Highway 1
About two hours northCliffs, redwoods and one of the most photographed stretches of road in the country.
Montaña de Oro State Park
About 30 minutesBluff trails over the ocean and tidepools, quieter than the beach towns.
Getting there and game days
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
San Luis Obispo County Regional Airport (SBP)
About 10 minutes from campus
For international flights: Los Angeles International (LAX) — about 3 hours 30 minutes by car.
Pro sports nearby
- Los Angeles Dodgers MLBAbout 3 hours 30 minutes away
- San Jose Sharks NHLAbout 3 hours 30 minutes away
- San Francisco Giants MLBAbout 3 hours 30 minutes away
Internships and jobs nearby
Career Proximity
A polytechnic whose graduates feed California's engineering and agricultural employers, with Silicon Valley about three hours north.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- Lockheed Martin
- Chevron
- Northrop Grumman
- Amazon
- Jacobs
San Luis Obispo, with Santa Barbara about 100 miles south and the Bay Area about three hours north
Who thrives here
Who Thrives Here
Cal Poly admits 30.0% and, as a California State University, does not read SAT or ACT scores at all. It is overwhelmingly a state school for state students: 80.1% of undergraduates are Californian, 19.3% come from other states and 0.6% from abroad, so an out-of-state applicant is competing for a genuinely small share of the class. The teaching model is the draw — project work and labs rather than lectures and exams — but the class-size numbers are the trade-off a family should see plainly: only 19.4% of sections run under 20 students and 89.5% run under 50, so this is a lecture-and-lab school rather than a seminar one. The other number to sit with is the finishing rate. 95.0% of first-years come back, and 87.3% eventually graduate, but only 61.9% finish in four years — a twenty-five point gap that means a fifth year is closer to normal than exceptional here, and should be budgeted rather than hoped away. Aid covers 74.2% of demonstrated need and graduates who borrow leave owing about $21,588. 39.2% live in university housing, and Greek life takes in 13.4% of men and 18.5% of women.