Santa Barbara, CA · public · 23,113 undergraduates
University of California, Santa Barbara acceptance rate, SAT range and net price
UC Santa Barbara's preliminary fall 2026 offers come to 44.0% of first-year applicants, up from 38.2% for the class that entered in fall 2025.
Net price per year at UC Santa Barbara
$17,136
Target · admit rate 44.0%
| Admit rate, Fall 2026 first-year (preliminary) | 44.0% (1 in 2) |
| Test scores | Not considered (test-free) |
| This site’s label | Target |
| Sticker price 2026-27, in-state | $50,946 |
| Paid by families with $75,001-$110,000 (2023-24) | $17,136 |
| Share of the sticker price | 34% |
Net price: average paid after grants by students on federal aid in that income band (2023-24), not a quote. The label is a fixed rule of this site (admit rate under 15% is a reach for everyone), not a prediction. Your exact price: UC Santa Barbara net price calculator. How this is calculated.
Admissions: UCOP Fall 2026 preliminary applications Table 1a (as of January 21, 2026) and admissions Table 1a (offers as of June 17, 2026) · net price: College Scorecard, 2023-24 · figures checked · Built by Radif Partners · Method and data
- Admit rate, newest cycle
- 44.0%
- SAT middle 50%
- test-free
- Sticker price 2026-27
- $50,946
- Net price, income $48k to $75k
- $12,588
UC Santa Barbara admitted 47,716 first-year applicants for fall 2026 out of 108,503, a preliminary rate of 44.0% based on University of California Office of the President counts (applications as of January, offers as of June 17, 2026). The last complete class, fall 2025, shows 42,093 admitted from 110,187 and 5,081 enrolled, or 38.2%, in the campus Common Data Set 2025-2026. No SAT or ACT range applies: every UC campus is test-free, so the file is read on grades, courses and the personal insight questions, and enrolled first-years averaged a 4.29 high school GPA. The 2026-27 budget for a new student in the residence halls is $50,946 for a Californian and $90,216 for a non-resident. Aided families paid far less in 2023-24: $9,231 on average under $30,000 of income and $12,588 between $48,001 and $75,000.
Two admit rates a year apart
The headline figure, 44.0%, comes from the preliminary UCOP tables for fall 2026 and will move a little as waitlist offers go out and conditions of admission are checked. The fall 2025 figure of 38.2% is final. Between the two, the applicant pool barely changed, from 110,187 to 108,503, while offers rose from 42,093 to 47,716. A student reading an older guide that quotes 33.0% is looking at the fall 2024 class in the federal data, two cycles back.
Why Californians face the steeper odds
Residency splits the pool in two. For fall 2025 the campus admitted 23,923 of 74,486 California applicants (32.1%), against 9,302 of 17,067 applicants from other states (54.5%) and 8,868 of 18,634 from abroad. Non-residents accept far less often, so 3,770 of the 5,081 students who enrolled were Californians. The preliminary fall 2026 offers follow the same pattern: 25,289 of 73,187 California applicants. The waiting list is a live route at Santa Barbara: 18,022 students took a place on it for fall 2025 and 9,603 were later admitted.
UC Santa Barbara: the out-of-state premium
Extra tuition for a non-CA student
$136,800
| In-state tuition and fees 2024-25 | $16,414 |
| Out-of-state tuition and fees 2024-25 | $50,614 |
| Gap per year | $34,200 |
Published tuition and fees, before any nonresident scholarship; future increases not included.
The 2026-27 bill for a new Gaucho
The financial aid office builds its sample budget for the 2026 cohort in the residence halls: $15,588 of tuition and Student Services Fee, $2,085 of campus fees, $23,985 of rent and food, then books, transport, personal costs and a $4,008 health care allowance for the UC student insurance plan, which is why the lines in the table below fall short of the $50,946 total. A non-resident adds $39,270 of Nonresident Supplemental Tuition, for $90,216. Tuition is fixed for each entering cohort under the UC Tuition Stability Plan, so the figure a 2026 entrant sees is the one paid through graduation, for up to six years.
UC Santa Barbara: net price for your family income
Average net price, 2023-24
$12,588
| Income band | $48,001-$75,000 |
| Share of the 2023-24 cost | 30% |
In-state students; federal figure for students on federal aid.
One UC application, no early round
Santa Barbara is reached through the single UC application, with no Early Decision or Early Action. For fall 2027 the filing window runs from October 1 to November 30, 2026, and decisions arrive by March 31, 2027. The same form can list UC Santa Cruz and UC Riverside with the same four essays; the comparison tool puts their prices side by side.
From University of California, Santa Barbara’s own documents
- For fall 2025, UCSB admitted 23,923 of 74,486 California applicants but 9,302 of 17,067 out-of-state applicants and 8,868 of 18,634 international applicants; 3,770 of the 5,081 enrolled first-years were Californians. source
- The waiting list matters: 18,022 applicants accepted a place on it for fall 2025 and 9,603 were admitted from it. source
- A non-resident pays 90,216 in the 2026-27 sample budget against 50,946 for a Californian, the gap being the 39,270 Nonresident Supplemental Tuition. source
- Preliminary fall 2026 figures from UCOP: 108,503 first-year applicants and 47,716 admits, of whom 25,289 California residents. source
- All UC campuses are test-free: SAT and ACT scores are not used for admission or for scholarships, so the odds depend on the A-G GPA, course rigor and the personal insight questions. source
- UC guarantees first-year admission to a UC campus, though not necessarily the campus of choice, to California students in the top 9 percent of their high school or of the state. source
Net price at University of California, Santa Barbara by family income
| Family income | Average net price 2023-24 | Share of the 2023-24 cost |
|---|---|---|
| $0-$30,000 | $9,231 | 22% |
| $30,001-$48,000 | $9,992 | 24% |
| $48,001-$75,000 | $12,588 | 30% |
| $75,001-$110,000 | $17,136 | 41% |
| $110,001 and up | $31,863 | 77% |
| All aided students | $16,109 | 39% |
Cost of attendance at University of California, Santa Barbara, 2026-27
| Item | In-state | Out-of-state |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition | $15,588 | $54,858 |
| Fees | $2,085 | $2,085 |
| Housing and food | $23,985 | $23,985 |
| Books and supplies | $1,515 | $1,515 |
| Personal | $2,976 | $2,976 |
| Travel | $789 | $789 |
| Total | $50,946 | $90,216 |
University of California, Santa Barbara admissions by cycle
| Entering class | Applicants | Admitted | Enrolled | Admit rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fall 2026 first-year (preliminary) | 108,503 | 47,716 | n/a | 44.0% |
| Fall 2025 entering class | 110,187 | 42,093 | 5,081 | 38.2% |
| Fall 2024 (federal IPEDS figure) | n/a | n/a | n/a | 33.0% |
Outcomes at University of California, Santa Barbara
| Measure | Value | Period |
|---|---|---|
| Graduated within 6 years | 83% | fall 2018 entering cohort |
| Returned for a second year | 93% | fall 2023 entering cohort |
| Median earnings 10 years after entry | $74,915 | measured 2020-2021, 10 years after entry, 2022 dollars |
| Median federal debt of graduates | $13,993 | students who finished in 2019-20 and 2020-21 |
| Undergraduates | 23,113 | fall 2024 |
| Students with a Pell Grant | 28% | 2023-24 |