Public · Santa Barbara, CA

University of California-Santa Barbara

Q: What is University of California-Santa Barbara’s acceptance rate?

University of California-Santa Barbara admits 33.0% of applicants (2025 data).

Q: Does University of California-Santa Barbara require the SAT or ACT?

University of California-Santa Barbara’s testing policy is not considered.

Q: How much does University of California-Santa Barbara cost after financial aid?

The average net price is $16,807 a year (2025). That is the sticker price minus grants and scholarships, averaged across students who receive aid. Your own price depends on your family’s finances.

Q: What is University of California-Santa Barbara’s graduation rate?

83% of students finish within six years.

Get to know the college, from admissions and cost to life on campus.

33.0%acceptance rate

Overview

33%

Acceptance rate

$16,109

Net price per year

5,008

Freshman class

Coastal

Santa Barbara, CA

ucsb.edu

Website

UC Santa Barbara pairs an elite research reputation, eight Nobel laureates on faculty, with a campus built into a bluff over the Pacific that most students bike across daily. Three colleges split how you study: broad Letters & Science, major-locked Engineering, and the small, research-first College of Creative Studies. The tension is real: a party-school reputation still shapes Isla Vista.

About University of California-Santa Barbara

Type: Public Research University
Setting: Coastal
Undergraduates: 23,113

Admissions

Acceptance rate

33%

of roughly 110,000 applicants

Application deadline

Nov 30

Fall Freshman Application

Early Decision/Early Action: No
Accepts Common App: —

Cost

Net price

$16,109 per year

Average after grants

What families pay, by incomeBars run to the $44,833 full cost

Tuition and aid

Full cost of attendance: $44,833per year
In-state tuition: $16,414
Out-of-state tuition: $50,614
Average family income: $56,328
Students with a school grant: 44%
Average school grant: $10,142
Average federal debt: $11,776at graduation
Need-blind: —
Meets full need: —
Merit scholarships: Yes
CSS Profile: —
International aid: Very limited, self-funding expected

Academics

Students per faculty

17:1

Majors offered: 53
Freshmen who return: 93%
Notable: 56%+of undergrads do faculty-guided research (FRAP, URCA)

Students

Freshman class

5,008 students

23,113 undergraduates in all

Who studies here

White32%

Hispanic27%

Asian18%

Black2%

Two or more races10%

International9%

Other or not reported3%

Campus life

Setting: Coastal
Location: Santa Barbara, CA
Live on campus: —
Student organizations: 500
Varsity sports: —

WHAT STUDENTS SAY

Isla Vista is the social life, and UCSB is rethinking it

UC Santa Barbara's social life runs largely through Isla Vista, the dense student neighborhood between campus and the beach, and the party-school reputation that comes with it. This spring the university replaced Deltopia, the unsanctioned spring blowout students built themselves, with Soltopia, a permitted, policed version, and student opinion writers mourned the loss of something more organic. Most reviews land calmer than either extreme: "isla vista isn't as scary as everyone says it is," a common refrain in student reviews, on a campus where over half the students bike to class.

Summarized by Spike from what students write: UCSB Student Life, The Daily Nexus, Student Reviews.