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.
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
- Nearest big city
- 80 miles to Santa Barbara, CA
- To the ocean
- 7 miles
- Nearest airport
- 3 miles to San Luis County (SBP)
How Laurus College compares
Higher than 29% · #284 of 382 in California
Higher than 62%
Higher than 34% · #250 of 326 in California
Cheaper than 24% · #227 cheapest of 377 in California
Lower than 1%
Lower than 18%
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
- 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)
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.
By offense type, per year
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.
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.
$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.
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.
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
HighLowAverage precipitation (inches)
NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals, San Luis Obispo Poly, CA US station (2.6 mi from campus).
What Laurus College graduates study — and earn
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 →
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UEI College-Huntington Park
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Colleges near Laurus College
Central California School of Continuing Education
San Luis Obispo, CA · Private for-profit · Certificate · 41 students
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
San Luis Obispo, CA · Public · Bachelor's · 21,996 students
Cuesta College
San Luis Obispo, CA · Public · Certificate · 7,180 students
CET-Santa Maria
Santa Maria, CA · Private nonprofit · Certificate · 142 students
Design's School of Cosmetology
Paso Robles, CA · Private for-profit · Certificate · 73 students
San Joaquin Valley College-Santa Maria
Santa Maria, CA · Private for-profit · Certificate · 114 students
Allan Hancock College
Santa Maria, CA · Public · Certificate · 8,052 students
Coalinga College
Coalinga, CA · Public · Certificate · 2,522 students
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.






