CSU East Bay vs UC Merced

California State University-East Bay (CSUEB) and University of California-Merced (UC-Merced) are two distinct public universities in California, each offering unique educational experiences. CSUEB, located in Hayward, boasts a diverse student body and a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs, with a focus on liberal arts and professional studies. UC-Merced, situated in the heart of the San Joaquin Valley, is a research-intensive university known for its strong academic programs in engineering, natural sciences, and social sciences. While both institutions share a commitment to academic excellence, they differ in terms of acceptance rates, popular majors, student demographics, and graduation rates. Explore the comprehensive comparison table below to discover which university aligns best with your academic aspirations and personal preferences.

	California State University-East Bay	University of California-Merced
Overview
Location	Hayward, California	Merced, California
Campus setting	Suburb: Large	Rural: Fringe
College type	4 year	4 year
Control/business model	Public	Public
Calendar system	Semester	Semester
Degrees offered	Undergraduate and Graduate	Undergraduate and Graduate
Students retention rate	80.0%	79.0%
Common app member	No	No
Religious affiliation

Admission
Acceptance rate	82.4%	86.6%
Application fees	Undergraduate: $70 Graduate: $70	Undergraduate: $70 Graduate: $120
SAT range	N/A	N/A
ACT range	N/A	N/A
Students submitting SAT score
Students submitting ACT score
Total number of applicants	14,448	27,793
Total number of admissions given out	11,899	24,068
Admitted students who chose to enroll	941	2,410
Yield rate	7.9%	10.0%
Test scores (SAT/ACT)	N/A	N/A
High school GPA	Required	Required
Recommendation letters	Not required	Not required
High school transcript	Not required	Not required
English proficiency test (e.g. TOEFL)	Not required	Required

Tuition and Fees
Sticker price	In state: $29,378 Out of state: $41,258	In state: $28,870 Out of state: $58,624
Average net price	$12,631	$11,586
Tuition	In state: $5,742 Out of state: $17,622	In state: $11,442 Out of state: $41,196
Room & board	Room/dormitory: $9,723 Meal plan: $4,650	$18,901
Available payment plans	Tuition payment plan	Tuition payment plan

Financial Aid
Students receiving financial aid (Grants & scholarships)	91.0% Average amount $8,540	92.0% Average amount $21,623
Students receiving federal student loan	17.0% Average amount $4,931	18.0% Average amount $4,470
Students taking out private loans	0.0% Average amount $12,200	1.0% Average amount $2,687

Students and Campus
Undergraduate students	12,114 Men 39.8% Women 60.2%	8,321 Men 47.7% Women 52.3%
Graduate students	3,075 Men 33.8% Women 66.2%	772 Men 55.8% Women 44.2%
Racial/ethnic diversity	Moderate	Low
Out-of-state students	2.3%	0.2%
International students	7.7%	8.7%
Campus local/setting	Suburb: Large	Rural: Fringe
Dormitory capacity	1,634	3,634
First year students are required to live on campus?	No	No
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from	California Washington Hawaii Oregon Alaska	California Alaska Idaho Missouri Texas

Academics
Popular study areas	Health Professions Business Education Kinesiology & Leisure Studies Communication and Journalism	Engineering Physical Science Social Sciences English Language and Literature Psychology
Students to faculty ratio	24:1	19:1
Institutional accreditation	Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior Colleges and University Commission	Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior Colleges and University Commission

Outcome
Graduation rate	48.4%	71.6%
Dropout rate	42.2%	5.0%
Transferred out	3.9%	22.6%
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)	Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $99,479 Year 2: $113,585 Year 3: $127,920 Statistics (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $83,165 Year 2: $78,785 Year 3: $97,059 Business Administration, Management and Operations (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $82,891 Year 2: $79,838 Year 3: $93,792 Educational Administration and Supervision (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $84,466 Year 2: $90,856 Year 3: $93,531 Construction Management (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $80,056 Year 2: $80,309 Year 3: $85,641 Public Administration (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $62,200 Year 2: $68,918 Year 3: $74,105 Communication Disorders Sciences and Services (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $78,406 Year 2: $70,456 Year 3: $73,621 Computer Science (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $59,738 Year 2: $65,387 Year 3: $72,620 Social Work (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $69,666 Year 2: $64,087 Year 3: $70,695 Student Counseling and Personnel Services (Master's Degrees) Year 1: $58,229 Year 2: $60,878 Year 3: $69,691	Computer Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $54,675 Year 2: $55,286 Year 3: $68,164 Mechanical Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $55,936 Year 2: $51,392 Year 3: $67,761 Economics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $30,771 Year 2: $43,000 Year 3: $57,642 Biomedical/Medical Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $38,420 Year 2: $39,729 Year 3: $53,045 Business Administration, Management and Operations (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $41,245 Year 2: $41,937 Year 3: $50,288 Applied Mathematics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $32,755 Year 2: N/A Year 3: $49,047 Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $40,917 Year 2: $38,721 Year 3: $47,958 Biology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $29,685 Year 2: $31,391 Year 3: $43,274 Chemistry (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $37,397 Year 2: $29,685 Year 3: $42,368 Cognitive Science (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $27,909 Year 2: $28,960 Year 3: $40,928

Compare Similar Colleges

The list of suggested college comparisons provided below is generated automatically by our system, utilizing statistics gathered from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) and various online sources. If you don't find the colleges you wish to compare, please visit our comparison page. There, you can search for the specific colleges and initiate your comparison.