Private for-profit · Community college

Laurus College

San Luis Obispo, California · Small city

0%
Transfer rate
$22,733
Avg net price
43%
Grad / completion
$30,896
Median earnings

Laurus College is a private for-profit associate-granting institution in San Luis Obispo, California (small city setting), enrolling 1,116 undergraduates. Admission is open to all applicants.

Private for-profitSmall · 1,116 undergradsSmall cityNear the coast

About San Luis Obispo, California

San Luis Obispo is a city in and the county seat of San Luis Obispo County, California, United States. The earliest human inhabitants of the local area were the Chumash people. One of the earliest villages lies south of San Luis Obispo and reflects the landscape of the early Holocene when estuaries came farther inland. The Madonna Inn is an eccentric landmark established by Alex Madonna in 1958. The Fremont Theater, a historic Art Deco theater from the 1940s, once played first-run movies on the huge screen, and now hosts stage performances. (Wikipedia)

Setting
Small city
Highest degree offered
Bachelor's
To the ocean
7 miles
Nearest airport
3 miles to San Luis County (SBP)

How Laurus College compares

Graduation rate43%

Higher than 29% · #284 of 382 in California

First-year retention79%

Higher than 62%

Earnings, 10 years after entry$30,896

Higher than 34% · #250 of 326 in California

Average net price$22,733

Cheaper than 24% · #227 cheapest of 377 in California

Median debt at graduation$32,416

Lower than 1%

Student–faculty ratio23 : 1

Lower than 18%

Undergraduate enrollment1,116

Larger than 74%

Percentiles compare Laurus College with the nation's 3,519 two-year and certificate schools, among schools reporting each statistic. State ranks count two-year and certificate schools in California.

Student body

Undergraduates by gender

1,116undergrads
  • Women61055%
  • Men50645%

Undergraduates by race / ethnicity

  • White12%
  • Black13%
  • Hispanic14%
  • Asian57%
  • Other or multiracial4.6%

Graduate gender splits aren't published in this data, so the gender chart covers undergraduates only.

By the numbers

Undergraduate enrollment
1,116
Student–faculty ratio
23 : 1
Pell Grant recipients
67%
First-generation students
52%
Students over 25
96%
Median family income
$12,958
Avg faculty salary (academic year)
$48,276

Colleges don't publish true class-size data; student–faculty ratio (IPEDS) is the closest public measure of it.

Cost

In-state tuition
Room & board
Total cost of attendance
Average net price
$22,733

Net price is the total cost minus grants and scholarships — what students actually pay. It varies sharply by family income; see the breakdown below.

Outcomes

Graduated (within 6 years)
43%
Graduated on time (4 years)
18%
First-year retention
79%
Transferred to another college
0%
Median earnings, 6 years after entry
$33,247
Median earnings, 10 years after entry
$30,896
Median debt at graduation
$32,416
Students with federal loans
65%
Paying down their loans (1 year in)
27%

About 25% of students who finish here need more than four years — each extra year adds roughly another year of tuition and living costs.

Graduating on time

By student background (4 years)

All students
18%
Low-income (Pell)
24%
First-generation
25%

When these bars run close together, students from every background tend to finish at similar rates — a sign the school supports the ~30% who are first-gen or low-income.

Campus life & athletics

On-campus housing
No
Application fee
$100

Housing and fees: IPEDS 2023–24. Athletics rosters: Equity in Athletics data, 2024–25. Dorm capacity can include graduate and family housing, so the share of undergrads can top 100%.

Campus safety

Safety grade
B
Reported offenses per 1,000 students
0.9 / year
Violent offenses (2022–2024)
0
Property offenses (2022–2024)
3

On-campus criminal offenses reported under the Clery Act, 2022–2024, across 6 campuses (1,116 students). Counts reflect reports, not convictions — schools with strong reporting cultures often show more, so a higher count doesn't simply mean a more dangerous campus.

Reported offenses in an average year

The same 2022–2024 Clery Act reports, divided down to one year.

1.0reported offenses a year
0 violent a year1.0 property a year

By offense type, per year

Burglary
0.7
Motor vehicle theft
0.3

Averages, not a forecast — a single year can run well above or below this. Bars are scaled against this campus's most-reported offense, so they compare types here rather than against other schools.

What you'll actually pay, by family income

Average net price (total cost minus grants and scholarships) paid by aided students in each family-income band.

< $30k
$18,278
$30–48k
$22,510
$48–75k
$23,932
$75–110k
$110k+

College Scorecard / IPEDS, most recent year. Family income is total household income; net price covers tuition, fees, room, board and supplies after grant aid, for students receiving federal aid.

Four-year (or more) true cost

Net price for your family's income, projected across the time it actually takes students here to graduate.

Est. total to a degree
$116,399

$23,932/year × about 4.9 years — most students here don't finish in exactly four, and each extra term adds cost. A planning estimate from net-price and graduation-timing data, not a bill.

Does the school pay you to attend?

Laurus College funds essentially no grants of its own — almost all aid here comes from federal (Pell), state, or outside sources rather than the school's own discount. Its sticker price is what it is.

Source: IPEDS Student Financial Aid, 2022–23 full-time first-year undergraduates.

Is it worth it?

A rough return-on-investment read from what graduates earn versus what they borrow.

Median earnings (10 years)
$30,896
Typical debt at graduation
$32,416
Debt vs. one year's pay
105%
Out-earn a HS grad
38%

Typical debt would take roughly 10.5 years to repay at about a tenth of median earnings.

Weigh it value

The payoff is less clear-cut here — weigh the debt against the earnings and your intended field before borrowing heavily.

Earnings are the College Scorecard median for former students (working, not enrolled) 10 years after entry — not a guarantee, and they vary a lot by major. Debt is the median federal loan balance at graduation.

The pay gap here

Median earnings 10 years after entry, split by gender.

Women
$28,432
Men
$37,819

Men out-earn women by $9,387 (33%) a decade out.

Federal figures for former students working and not enrolled, 10 years after they first entered. A gap this wide usually reflects which majors men and women here tend to choose — not different pay for the same job.

Campus climate

Summer high
80°F
Winter low
44°F
Annual rain
22.4″

Average temperature

HighLow
30°60°90°JFMAMJJASOND

Average precipitation (inches)

0.02.55.1JFMAMJJASOND

NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals, San Luis Obispo Poly, CA US station (2.6 mi from campus).

Median earnings of this school's own graduates 1 and 5 years after finishing each program, and median federal-loan debt at completion (College Scorecard). Small programs are privacy-suppressed (—). Click a major to compare colleges nationally.

Colleges similar to Laurus College

Schools with a comparable profile — size, selectivity, cost, and graduate outcomes. Compare Laurus College side by side →

Colleges near Laurus College

Source: US Department of Education College Scorecard (most recent cohorts), IPEDS institutional characteristics, Equity in Athletics (EADA) data, Clery Act Campus Safety and Security data, and NOAA US Climate Normals. Distances are straight-line from campus coordinates. Percentiles compare schools of the same level (four-year vs. two-year) that report each statistic.