Saddleback vs Cuesta

Saddleback College and Cuesta College, both esteemed community colleges in California, offer diverse educational opportunities to students seeking higher education. Saddleback College, located in Mission Viejo, boasts a higher acceptance rate of 100% compared to Cuesta College's 99%. While Saddleback College excels in programs like Liberal Arts and Humanities, Cuesta College shines in Agriculture and Natural Resources. Saddleback College's student body is predominantly female, while Cuesta College's is more evenly balanced. With Saddleback College's higher graduation rate of 23% compared to Cuesta College's 18%, students may find greater success in completing their studies at Saddleback. Explore the detailed comparison table below to discover more distinctions between these two institutions and make an informed decision about your academic journey.

	Cuesta College	Saddleback College
Overview
Location	San Luis Obispo, California	Mission Viejo, California
Campus setting	Suburb: Small	Suburb: Large
College type	2 year	2 year
Control/business model	Public	Public
Calendar system	Semester	Semester
Degrees offered	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
Students retention rate	66.0%	71.0%
Common app member	No	No
Religious affiliation

Admission
Acceptance rate	Open Admission	Open Admission
Application fees
SAT range	N/A	N/A
ACT range	N/A	N/A
Students submitting SAT score
Students submitting ACT score
Total number of applicants
Total number of admissions given out
Admitted students who chose to enroll
Yield rate
Test scores (SAT/ACT)	Not required	Not required
High school GPA	N/A	N/A
Recommendation letters	N/A	N/A
High school transcript	N/A	N/A
English proficiency test (e.g. TOEFL)	N/A	N/A

Tuition and Fees
Sticker price	In state: $25,602 Out of state: $32,966	In state: $24,554 Out of state: $33,514
Average net price	$14,586	$7,918
Tuition	In state: $1,288 Out of state: $8,652	In state: $1,288 Out of state: $10,248
Room & board
Available payment plans

Financial Aid
Students receiving financial aid (Grants & scholarships)	77.0% Average amount $4,087	43.0% Average amount $5,432
Students receiving federal student loan	2.0% Average amount $6,557	1.0% Average amount $5,908
Students taking out private loans	0.0% Average amount $0	0.0% Average amount $0

Students and Campus
Undergraduate students	9,661 Men 47.9% Women 52.1%	17,392 Men 44.3% Women 55.7%
Graduate students	N/A	N/A
Racial/ethnic diversity	Moderate	Moderate
Out-of-state students	4.0%	2.9%
International students	0.2%	1.5%
Campus local/setting	Suburb: Small	Suburb: Large
Dormitory capacity	N/A	N/A
First year students are required to live on campus?	N/A	N/A
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from	California Oregon Connecticut Illinois Kansas	California

Academics
Popular study areas	Liberal Arts Business Health Professions Education Family and Consumer Sciences	Liberal Arts Health Professions Business Communication and Journalism Social Sciences
Students to faculty ratio	25:1	25:1
Institutional accreditation	Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges	Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges

Outcome
Graduation rate	43.2%	46.2%
Dropout rate	39.6%	30.7%
Transferred out	8.5%	9.8%
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)	Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $79,884 Year 3: $85,944 Mental and Social Health Services and Allied Professions (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: $64,744 Year 2: $61,516 Year 3: $61,763 Business Administration, Management and Operations (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $24,267 Year 3: $44,025 Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: $31,966 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A	Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: $73,348 Year 2: $70,456 Year 3: $71,266 Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $20,444 Year 3: $39,729 Cosmetology and Related Personal Grooming Services (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $9,167 Year 3: N/A

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