At a Glance
Cal Poly SLO admits 30% of applicants.
What You'll Actually Pay
See what families at different income levels actually pay after aid.
What families actually pay, by income level
After grants and scholarships. Before loans. Public school prices shown at in-state rates.
Source: College Scorecard / IPEDS, 2024-25
Where the Sticker Price Goes
Based on average need-based grant. Actual cost varies by family income — see chart above.
Shown at in-state rates.
Debt at Graduation
36.4%
receive need-based grant aid
$21,588
average debt at graduation
Cal Poly SLO graduates carry an average of $21,588 in debt.
Merit Aid
2,033
students received merit aid
$3,239
average merit award
Getting In
Cal Poly SLO admits 30% of applicants.
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 · 18% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 5% of the class submitted
45.7% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo gives essays less weight than many schools — academics drive most admissions decisions here. Demonstrated interest is Not Considered here — campus visits and emails to admissions won't affect your odds.
Student Life
19.4% of Cal Poly SLO classes have fewer than 20 students.
Share of undergraduate class sections at each size, from CDS Section I-3. More red = more large lectures.
At Cal Poly SLO, 19.4% of your classes will have fewer than 20 students.
Class size data reflects all undergraduate sections including labs, seminars, and lectures. Large research universities often have smaller upper-division and graduate-level sections that improve the overall distribution. First and second-year students typically experience larger classes than these averages suggest.
Source: Common Data Set 2025–26, Section I-3 (class sizes)
17:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
From out of state (freshman class)
19.3%
Live on campus
39.24%
Men in fraternities
13.4%
Women in sororities
18.5%
Who Attends
Racial and ethnic breakdown of enrolled undergraduates, as reported in each school's Common Data Set. "Unknown / Other" includes students who did not report or selected "other."
Cal Poly SLO's student body is 45.7% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
Cal Poly SLO graduates 61.9% of students in 4 years.
Graduating late means paying for extra semesters. The 6-year rate tells you who eventually finishes — the 4-year rate tells you what it actually costs.
Cal Poly SLO graduates 61.9% of students in 4 years.
What finishing late actually costs
Based on each school's published cost of attendance. Public school costs shown at in-state rates.
Cal Poly SLO
61.9%
4-yr grad rate
Extra year cost: $32,265*
* In-state cost of attendance. Out-of-state students pay significantly more.
Graduation rate data from Common Data Set 2025–26, Fall 2018 cohort (most recent available). 4-year rate = students completing in 4 years or less. 6-year rate = students completing within 6 years.
87.3%
Overall 6-yr rate
81%
Pell recipient rate
There's a 6.3 point gap between overall and Pell Grant graduation rates. Worth asking the school about support resources.
Freshman Retention
95%
95% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
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. The downtown is compact enough to cross on foot, the weather barely moves, and the beach is fifteen minutes west.
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.
The City
College town
San Luis Obispo, CA
Best For
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
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 & 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
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
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 78.9% 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.