At a Glance
Santa Clara admits 47.9% 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.
Debt at Graduation
31.9%
receive need-based grant aid
$28,838
average debt at graduation
Santa Clara graduates carry an average of $28,838 in debt.
Merit Aid
1,830
students received merit aid
$15,476
average merit award
Getting In
Santa Clara admits 47.9% of applicants.
Santa Clara University's Early Decision applicants are admitted at nearly 2x the rate of Regular Decision applicants — 76.4% vs 47%. Note: ED is binding — you commit to attending if admitted.
SAT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 29% of the class submitted
ACT — Middle 50% of those who submitted · 9% of the class submitted
47% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
Santa Clara University rates your personal essay as Very Important — equal weight to your GPA. Don't underestimate it. Demonstrated interest is Important — showing genuine engagement with this school may help your application.
Student Life
42.1% of Santa Clara 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 Santa Clara, 42.1% 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)
11:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
Live on campus
51%
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."
Santa Clara's student body is 35.6% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
Santa Clara graduates 80.6% 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.
Santa Clara graduates 80.6% 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.
Santa Clara
80.6%
4-yr grad rate
Extra year cost: $82,026
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.
87.2%
Overall 6-yr rate
89.6%
Pell recipient rate
Lower-income students graduate at nearly the same rate as their peers — a sign of strong institutional support.
Freshman Retention
93.3%
93.3% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in Santa Clara.
A compact, walled, mission-centred campus in the middle of Santa Clara, which is to say the middle of Silicon Valley. San José's downtown is ten minutes away and San Francisco under an hour by train. The setting is suburban and quiet in a way the surrounding industry is not.
Notable Alumni
Leon Panetta
Secretary of Defense, Director of the CIA and White House Chief of Staff. He took his degree here in 1960 and his law degree here in 1963, and the university's public policy institute is named for him.
Class of 1960
Khaled Hosseini
Wrote The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns, which have sold tens of millions of copies. He graduated here in 1988 in biology before going to medical school and then writing full time.
Class of 1988
Steve Nash
Two-time NBA Most Valuable Player and one of the finest passers the league has had. He played here from 1992 and graduated in 1996 in sociology.
Class of 1996
Brandi Chastain
Scored the winning penalty in the 1999 Women's World Cup final, one of the most replayed moments in American sport. She played here and graduated in 1991, and later coached at the university.
Class of 1991
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
Mid-size city
Santa Clara, CA
Best For
Traditions
Mission Santa Clara de Asís
The 1777 mission church at the centre of campus, rebuilt several times, with the adjoining gardens that give the university its shape and its oldest continuous ritual.
Vespers
A candlelit service in the mission before winter finals, one of the fixed points of the Jesuit calendar here.
The Ruff Riders
The student section for Bronco basketball, small and close to the floor at the Leavey Center.
Jesuit service commitment
Community-based learning is woven into the curriculum rather than offered alongside it, which is why the university's admissions grid has historically rated volunteer work as highly as it does.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from Santa Clara
San Francisco
About an hour by CaltrainReachable without a car from the station beside campus, which is why students treat it as a regular weekend rather than a trip.
Santa Cruz and the coast
About 45 minutesOver the mountains to the boardwalk, the surf and the redwoods on the way.
Big Basin and the Santa Cruz Mountains
About an hourOld-growth redwoods and long ridge trails, close enough for an afternoon.
Napa and Sonoma
About two hoursNorth past San Francisco into wine country, the standard longer weekend.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
San José Mineta International Airport (SJC)
About 10 minutes from campus
For international flights: San Francisco International (SFO) — about 40 minutes by car.
Pro sports nearby
- San Francisco 49ers NFL
- San Jose Sharks NHL
- San Jose Earthquakes MLS
- Golden State Warriors NBA
Career Proximity
The campus sits inside Silicon Valley, so technology internships are a commute rather than a relocation.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- Apple
- Nvidia
- Intel
- Cisco
Santa Clara and San José, with San Francisco about an hour north by train
Who Thrives Here
Santa Clara admits 47.9% overall — but 76.4% of early decision applicants were admitted, one of the widest early advantages in this catalog, and a fact worth deciding around rather than discovering afterwards. Early decision is binding, so it is only the right move for a family who has already decided this is the first choice and has run the net price calculator. It is small: 6,695 undergraduates, an 11:1 student-faculty ratio, 42.1% of sections under 20 and 99.2% under 50, so a student is rarely anonymous but should not expect a seminar every term. The finishing rate is the standout — 80.6% graduate in four years, and 87.2% within six, so the four-year degree is the norm here rather than the exception, which materially changes what four years actually costs. The trade-off is price: aid covers 87.1% of demonstrated need and graduates who borrow leave owing about $28,838, which is real debt to weigh against finishing on time. 51.0% live in university housing on a 106-acre campus built around the original mission, and the location does the rest — the technology industry is not somewhere students travel to for an internship, it is the surrounding town.