Bachelor's · San Luis Obispo, California
Is Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering at California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo worth it?
High confidence High confidence: 100+ graduates behind the earnings figures.
The verdict · all families, in-state, half paid with loans
Pays back fast: graduates typically recover the cost in about 1.6 years.
- Earnings 1 year after graduating
- $102,314
- Treasury AY2020-21, AY2021-22 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Earnings 4 years after graduating
- $134,523
- Treasury AY2017-2018, AY2018-2019 pooled earnings cohort measured in CY2022, CY2023, inflation adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Typical federal debt at graduation
- $20,315
- NSLDS pooled AY2022-23, AY2023-24 cohort
- Net cost to graduate, all families
- $80k (likely $80k – $107k)
- AcadYr 2024-25, reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Earnings bump, year 4
- $94k a year vs high-school graduates aged 25–34 in CA
- 2023 ACS 5-year pooled, adjusted to 2024 dollars
- Payback
- 1.6 years (likely 1.4–2.0)
- Bump vs net cost plus loan interest
- 10-year net return
- $643k (likely $540k – $751k)
- Today's dollars
- 20-year net return
- $1.74M (likely $1.50M – $2.03M)
- Today's dollars
- Odds of finishing (school-wide)
- 87%
- Fall 2019 or AcadYr 2019-20 cohort (differs by institutional calendar), reported in IPEDS DCY2025-26
- Borrowers making progress / in default, 2 years in
- not reported / ≤ 20%
- NSLDS AY2016-17, AY2017-18 pooled cohorts measured in 2018-19, 2019-20
Change income, residency or loans Compare Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering at other schools
Other majors at California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
- Computer Science (Master's)$235,241
- Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering (Master's)$158,977
- Computer Science (Bachelor's)$154,784
- Computer Engineering (Bachelor's)$148,950
- Accounting and Related Services (Master's)$134,105
- Aerospace, Aeronautical, and Astronautical/Space Engineering (Master's)$132,720
- Management Sciences and Quantitative Methods (Master's)$131,448
- Mechanical Engineering (Master's)$127,908
- Construction Management (Bachelor's)$118,331
- Biomedical/Medical Engineering (Master's)$113,572
- Industrial Engineering (Bachelor's)$112,797
- Business Administration, Management and Operations (Bachelor's)$110,902
Electrical, Electronics, and Communications Engineering at other schools in California
- University of California-Berkeley$200,543
- University of Southern California$131,532
- University of California-Los Angeles$126,209
- University of California-Santa Cruz$118,290
- University of California-San Diego$118,150
- University of California-Santa Barbara$117,215
- Sonoma State University$112,757
- San Francisco State University$112,454
- University of San Diego$110,314
- California State University-Fresno$108,038