Trying to choose a college? The U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard offers some key insights to help you narrow down your choices.
Among the filters is one on “salary after attending,” which shows the median salary of students 10 years after starting school. These students all received federal financial aid. You can also filter it by state.
Some of the results might surprise you, such as Stanford being No. 2 behind small private school Samuel Merritt, but the federal-aid factor affected some of the rankings, according to SFGate. (Some colleges have more undergraduate students who receive aid.)
Other caveats, as reported by SFGate, include student outcomes can vary greatly within and between schools, particularly when taking into account different degrees. And anyone still in school, such as grad students, are excluded.
Keeping these constraints in mind, here are the future-salary rankings for California schools, according to the U.S. DoED:
1. Samuel Merritt University, Oakland, 506 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $106,700.
2. Stanford University, Stanford, 6,994 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $85,700.
3. Los Angeles County College of Nursing and Allied Health, Los Angeles, 196 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $85,100.
4. Loma Linda University, Loma Linda, 1,048 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $79,100.
5. California State University Maritime Academy, Vallejo, 1,072 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $79,000.
6. Claremont McKenna College, Claremont, 1,325 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $75,000.
7. Harvey Mudd College, Claremont, 812 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $74,200.
8. California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, 1,001 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $74,200.
9. University of Southern California, Los Angeles, 18,519 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $70,400.
10. Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, 5,344 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $69,600.
11. University of the Pacific, Stockton, 3,720 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $69,300.
12. Golden Gate University-San Francisco, San Francisco, 451 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $69,200.
13. California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, San Luis Obispo, 19,972 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $63,100.
14. University of California, Berkeley, 27,496 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $61,800.
15. Charles R Drew University of Medicine and Science, Los Angeles, 85 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $61,700.
16. Pepperdine University, Malibu, 3,514 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $61,100.
17. University of San Francisco, San Francisco, 6,682 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $59,900.
18. University of San Diego, San Diego, 5,551 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $59,300.
19. UCLA, Los Angeles, 29,581 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $58,700.
20. University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, 26,584 undergraduates. Salary after attending: $58,600.
Note: UC Davis comes in 25th, with a salary after attending of $56,300. Sacramento State comes in 55th, with a salary after attending of $47,200.
No matter the caveats, U.S. DoED data show that an undergraduate education is likely to pay off, SFGate reports. High school grads ages 25-34 earn an average of $25,000 a year nationwide, according to the data.
This story was originally published November 09, 2017 8:46 AM.