At a Glance
San Diego State admits 37.4% 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
Not reported by this school
receive need-based grant aid
$19,993
average debt at graduation
San Diego State graduates carry an average of $19,993 in debt.
Merit Aid
1,025
students received merit aid
$2,425
average merit award
Getting In
San Diego State admits 37.4% of applicants.
This school reports SAT section scores but leaves the composite range blank, so there is no mid-50% band to chart.
ACT composite range not reported by this school.
25% were in the top 10% of their high school class.
What They Value
Academic
Nonacademic
San Diego State University 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
25.3% of San Diego State 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 San Diego State, 25.3% 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)
24:1
student:faculty ratio
Campus Life
From out of state (freshman class)
20.3%
Live on campus
25%
Men in fraternities
11%
Women in sororities
12%
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."
San Diego State's student body is 32.6% white.
Popular Majors
Will They Graduate?
San Diego State graduates 58% 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.
San Diego State graduates 58% 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.
San Diego State
58%
4-yr grad rate
Extra year cost: $27,780*
* 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.
78%
Overall 6-yr rate
72%
Pell recipient rate
There's a 6 point gap between overall and Pell Grant graduation rates. Worth asking the school about support resources.
Freshman Retention
91.1%
91.1% of first-year students return for sophomore year.
City & Culture
Beyond the data — what it's actually like to spend four years in San Diego.
San Diego earns its reputation — 70 degrees and blue skies most of the year, beaches within 20 minutes of campus, and a food scene anchored by outstanding Mexican cuisine and coastal seafood that benefits from the city's proximity to Baja California. SDSU sits in the College Area neighborhood about 8 miles east of downtown, a short trolley ride from Mission Beach, Balboa Park, and the Gaslamp Quarter. Housing costs are real — San Diego is one of California's pricier cities — but students who budget accordingly get access to a quality of life that's genuinely difficult to match anywhere in the country.
Notable Alumni
Tony Gwynn
Won eight NL batting titles and hit above .300 in every full season of his MLB career with the San Diego Padres, earning first-ballot Hall of Fame induction in 2007 and later returning to coach the SDSU baseball team.
Marshall Faulk
Won the NFL MVP award in 2000 as the engine of the St. Louis Rams' legendary 'Greatest Show on Turf' offense, and was enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2011.
Kawhi Leonard
Won NBA Finals MVP with two different franchises — the San Antonio Spurs in 2014 and the Toronto Raptors in 2019 — after spending two seasons at SDSU before being drafted in the first round.
Raquel Welch
Became one of Hollywood's most iconic screen legends after her breakthrough in One Million Years B.C. (1966) and later earned a Golden Globe for The Three Musketeers (1973), building a career that spanned six decades.
Stephen Strasburg
Was named World Series MVP in 2019 after a dominant postseason run helped deliver the Washington Nationals their first championship title, capping a career that began with a historic no. 1 overall draft selection out of SDSU.
Greg Koch
Co-founded Stone Brewing in 1996, growing it from a two-person startup in Escondido into one of the most recognized independent craft breweries in America, with distribution across more than 30 countries.
Alumni selected for name recognition and range of fields. Not from the Common Data Set.
The City
Major city
San Diego, CA
Best For
Traditions
The Aztec Walk
Before every home football game, the SDSU team walks a ceremonial route through a loud corridor of fans and the Marching Aztecs drumline on their way into Snapdragon Stadium. It turns the pregame hour into a genuine event and sets the energy well before kickoff.
Aztec Nation at Viejas Arena
SDSU basketball is taken seriously in San Diego — the student section, Aztec Nation, has built a reputation as one of the most electric in the Mountain West Conference, with students camping out overnight for marquee matchups against conference rivals. A home upset over a ranked opponent tends to end with the court stormed and the arena shaking.
Week of Welcome (WOW)
Every August, SDSU launches the academic year with a multi-day campus-wide celebration that includes outdoor concerts, free food, resource fairs, and social events designed specifically to make it easy for new students to find their people quickly. It's one of the more energetically produced orientations in the California State University system and establishes a community tone that carries through the semester.
Weekend Escapes
Within driving distance from San Diego
Tijuana & Valle de Guadalupe, Mexico
30 minutesCross the border in half an hour for some of the best street tacos and seafood tostadas on the continent, and another hour south brings you to the Valle de Guadalupe wine region — Baja California's answer to Napa, without the crowds.
Joshua Tree National Park
2.5 hoursThe high desert's surreal boulder landscapes, unobstructed night skies, and laid-back gateway towns make Joshua Tree one of the most rewarding weekend drives from campus — particularly for hiking, bouldering, or just decompressing mid-semester.
Los Angeles
2 hoursWorld-class museums, live music from Silver Lake to the Wiltern, food crawls through Koreatown and Little Tokyo, and the option to catch a Dodgers, Lakers, or Rams game — LA is close enough to treat as a regular escape, not just a special occasion.
Getting There & Game Days
Nearest airport
San Diego International Airport (SAN)
15 minutes from campus
Flies international — you can start a trip abroad from here.
Pro sports nearby
- San Diego Padres MLB
- San Diego Wave FC NWSL
- San Diego FC MLS
Career Proximity
San Diego's dense concentration of defense contractors, biotech firms, and telecommunications companies makes it one of the most internship-rich environments in the western United States for students in engineering, health sciences, and business.
Top Industries Nearby
Major Employers
- Qualcomm
- General Atomics
- Illumina
- Scripps Health
- Northrop Grumman
Downtown San Diego — approximately 8 miles from campus
Who Thrives Here
San Diego State admits 37.4% of applicants and does it without looking at a test score at all: its CDS answers C8A No, so the transcript and what a student has actually done carry the whole application. 91.1% of first-years come back and 78.0% finish within six years, but only 58.0% finish in four, and the reason is visible in the classroom — 24 students per faculty member, and just 25.3% of sections holding fewer than 20. Aid meets 73.0% of need and graduates who borrow leave owing $19,993, which is modest for a public this size. 77.7% of the class is Californian and only 25.0% live in university housing, so most of four years happens off campus rather than on a residential quad — and Greek life, at 11% of men and 12% of women, is something you join rather than something the campus organises itself around.