California Northstate University

Elk Grove, CA · official site ↗

Private for-profitOther / Unclassified
98
Fin. Resilience
Resilience score

vs. 28 peers in its group

California Northstate University is a private for-profit institution in Elk Grove, CA.

It enrolls about 37 undergraduates and is benchmarked here against 28 peer institutions (Other / Unclassified · Private for-profit).

On Ibex's Financial Resilience score it rates 98 out of 100 within that peer group, a transparent composite of endowment per undergraduate, net tuition revenue per student, and instructional spend per student.

Its strongest standing relative to peers is instructional spend / fte ($25,946, 100th percentile).

Its weakest is admission yield (8.3%).

Ibex's cross-metric scan flags: Undergrad enrollment down 81% since 2021.

Peer group

Other / Unclassified · Private for-profit

28 institutions

Undergrad enrollment down 81% since 2021

How exposed California Northstate University is to the structural shifts reshaping higher ed: a composite structural-risk index plus the 2025 federal budget law’s endowment excise tax and Grad PLUS elimination and the demographic enrollment cliff. Only signals that apply to this institution are shown.

Enrollment cliff (home state)Projected change in the institution's home-state high-school graduates from 2025 to 2041 (WICHE). The U.S. total falls about 13%; a directional feeder-market signal, not an enrollment forecast.
-27.7%
Severe decline

Indicative signals, not forecasts — see each metric’s definition and the methodology. Endowment-tax and Grad PLUS figures appear only where the institution is actually exposed; “nationally” compares against all schools that report each signal.

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Where the money comes from $87.5M total revenue · IPEDS FY2022-23

Tuition & fees is the largest single source at 71% of revenue.

Tuition & fees71.4%
Other revenue21.1%
Investment return4.2%
Auxiliary enterprises3.3%

Where each dollar of revenue comes from, as a share of total positive revenue. Sources are standardized across public (GASB) and private (FASB) reporting; a net investment loss in a down market is shown as 0% and excluded from the mix.

Net tuition revenue / FTETuition revenue per full-time-equivalent student after institutional aid/discounts — what tuition actually nets.
Strong
$60,753
96th percentile in peer grouppeer median $20,654
Instructional spend / FTESpending on instruction per FTE student — how much of the budget reaches the classroom.
Strong
$25,946
100th percentile in peer grouppeer median $6,813
In-state tuition & feesPublished in-state tuition and fees before aid (sticker price).
$57,463
100th percentile in peer grouppeer median $23,874
Out-of-state tuition & feesPublished out-of-state tuition and fees before aid (sticker price).
$57,463
100th percentile in peer grouppeer median $23,874
Avg monthly faculty salaryAverage monthly salary of full-time faculty (IPEDS) — a proxy for faculty investment.
Strong
$11,611
100th percentile in peer grouppeer median $7,900
Average monthly salary of full-time faculty, as reported to IPEDS.
Operating marginNet surplus as a share of total revenue — whether the institution runs in the black.
Strong
18.8%
percentile in peer group
Net surplus as a share of total revenue (IPEDS FY2022-23): (total revenues − total expenses) ÷ total revenues. A surplus above 4% is strong; a thin surplus near 0% leaves little margin for shocks.
Tuition dependencyTuition's share of total revenue — how exposed the budget is to enrollment swings.
71.4%
percentile in peer group
Tuition & fees as a share of total revenue (IPEDS FY2022-23). Higher = more exposed to enrollment swings.
Graduation rate · first-time, full-time
100%

100% graduate within 6 years (150% of normal time)
100% on-time, within 4 years (100%)
Counts only students who entered full-time as first-time freshmen and earned a bachelor's here — the conventional headline rate. Excludes part-time entrants and transfer-ins.

Completion rate · all students
100%

100% earned a degree or certificate within 8 years (IPEDS Outcome Measures)
The broader cohort — also counts part-time entrants and transfer-ins, and any credential. More inclusive, so it can run higher than the graduation rate.

Why two numbers? They measure different students over different windows, so they are not directly comparable. The graduation rate is the standard federal headline but tracks only first-time, full-time students through a bachelor's; the all-students completion rate adds the part-time and transfer students it leaves out, over a longer window. Read each for what it covers. Source: U.S. Department of Education — IPEDS Graduation Rates & Outcome Measures, via College Scorecard.

Undergraduate enrollmentNumber of degree-seeking undergraduates (IPEDS fall headcount). A size measure, not a quality signal.
37
12th percentile in peer grouppeer median 334
Admission rateShare of applicants offered admission. Lower means more selective; open-admission schools report none.
92.5%
6th percentile in peer grouppeer median 100%
First-year retentionShare of first-time, full-time freshmen who return for a second year — an early signal of student fit and support.
Strong
85.7%
89th percentile in peer grouppeer median 59.2%
Graduation rate (6-yr · first-time, full-time)Of first-time, full-time freshmen, the share who earn a bachelor's at this institution within six years (150% of normal time) — the conventional headline graduation rate. It counts only first-time, full-time students and excludes part-time entrants and transfer-ins, who are captured instead by the all-students completion rate.
Strong
100%
100th percentile in peer grouppeer median 80%
Graduation rate (4-yr on-time · first-time, full-time)Of first-time, full-time freshmen, the share who earn a bachelor's within four years (100% of normal time) — the 'on-time' rate. It runs well below the six-year rate because many students take a fifth or sixth year; same first-time, full-time cohort as the six-year rate.
Strong
100%
100th percentile in peer grouppeer median 0%
Pell recipient shareShare of undergraduates on a federal Pell Grant — a proxy for the share from lower-income families.
0%
9th percentile in peer grouppeer median 60.5%
Program concentration (HHI)How concentrated a school's annual completions are across academic fields, as a Herfindahl-Hirschman Index (10,000 = one field, lower = many). Higher means more reliance on a few fields; lower means a diversified program portfolio.
Highly concentrated
10,000
percentile in peer group
How concentrated the institution's degree and certificate output is across academic fields (CIP 2-digit families), as a Herfindahl-Hirschman Index on the latest year's completions: 10,000 means every completion is in one field; lower means output is spread across many. A higher value means the school leans on fewer fields and is more exposed to demand shifts in them; a lower value reflects a broad program portfolio. Shown for institutions reporting at least 100 annual completions. A structural-diversification signal, not a measure of quality.
12-month FTE enrollmentFull-time-equivalent enrollment over the full year — the denominator for per-student finance measures.
1,118
100th percentile in peer grouppeer median 238
Full-time-equivalent enrollment over the full 12-month year (IPEDS 12-month enrollment, 2022-23). Counts part-time students at their fractional load, so it runs above fall full-time headcount and is the denominator used for per-student finance measures.
Student-faculty ratioStudents per instructional faculty member — lower usually means smaller classes and more contact.
7:1
10th percentile in peer grouppeer median 20:1
Students per instructional faculty member (IPEDS, fall 2023). Lower generally means smaller classes and more faculty contact, though the measure mixes undergraduate and graduate teaching and is institution-reported.
Enrollment cliff (home state)Projected change in the institution's home-state high-school graduates from 2025 to 2041 (WICHE). The U.S. total falls about 13%; a directional feeder-market signal, not an enrollment forecast.
Severe decline
-27.7%
percentile in peer group
Projected change in the number of high-school graduates in the institution's HOME STATE from the class of 2025 (the national peak) to 2041, per WICHE's Knocking at the College Door, 11th Edition (Dec 2024). The 'enrollment cliff' is the post-2008 birth decline reaching college age; the U.S. total is projected to fall about 13% over this window. A college recruits from many states, so its home-state projection is an indicative directional signal of feeder-market pressure, not a forecast of that institution's own enrollment.
Completion rate (all students · 8-yr)Of ALL entering degree-seeking undergraduates — full- and part-time, first-time and transfer-in — the share who earned a degree or certificate at this institution within eight years (IPEDS Outcome Measures). Broader than the graduation rate, which counts only first-time, full-time students, so the two are measured on different students and are not directly comparable.
100%
percentile in peer group
Share of ALL entering degree-seeking undergraduates — full- and part-time, first-time and transfer-in — who earned a degree or certificate at this institution within eight years (IPEDS Outcome Measures, via College Scorecard). Broader and more inclusive than the graduation-rate figures, which count only first-time, full-time students entering a bachelor's program — so the two are measured on different groups of students and are not directly comparable.
Admission yield
Below peers
8.3%
7th percentile in peer grouppeer median 38.8%
Share of admitted students who enrolled (IPEDS Admissions, Fall 2023): students who enrolled ÷ students admitted. A demand signal — how many accepted offers the institution converts to enrollment. Higher yield generally reflects stronger demand, though binding early-decision programs and price positioning can inflate it. Open-admission institutions do not report admissions and show none.
Undergraduate race & ethnicity IPEDS 2024-25
Asian51.3%
White18.9%
Unknown13.5%
Black8.1%
Hispanic/Latino2.7%
Two or more races2.7%
International2.7%

Undergraduate enrollment by race and ethnicity, as reported to IPEDS (College Scorecard). “International” denotes nonresident students; “Unknown” means race/ethnicity was not reported.

Share taking federal loansShare of students taking out federal loans — a borrowing-reliance signal.
0%
9th percentile in peer grouppeer median 84%
Full-time faculty shareShare of faculty employed full-time — higher generally means more availability and continuity.
Strong
48.3%
89th percentile in peer grouppeer median 17.7%
Field-demand outlook (10-yr)Employment-weighted 10-year BLS job-growth projection for the occupations this school's program mix feeds (U.S. all-occupations benchmark +3.1%). An indicative broad-field demand signal, not a program-specific or placement guarantee.
Fast-growing field mix
+6.2%
94th percentile in peer group
Projected 10-year (2024-34) change in U.S. employment for the occupations this institution's degrees and certificates feed, blended across its program mix. Built by mapping each CIP 2-digit field to its occupations via the NCES CIP-SOC crosswalk, taking the employment-weighted average of each occupation's BLS-projected percent change, then weighting fields by the institution's latest-year completions. The U.S. all-occupations benchmark is 3.1%, so a higher value means the school's graduates concentrate in faster-growing labor markets. An INDICATIVE field-level signal at broad-field granularity — not a program-specific or graduate-specific projection, and not a placement or earnings guarantee. Structurally diffuse CIP families whose crosswalk maps to 'any job' are excluded from the signal: 05 Area/Ethnic/Gender Studies, 24 Liberal Arts & Humanities, and 30 Multi/Interdisciplinary. Shown where at least 50% of completions fall in fields with a coherent occupational mapping and the school reports 100+ annual completions.

California Northstate University’s largest fields by completions, with graduate earnings (4 years out) and debt benchmarked against the same field at its peer group. Sparklines show the 8-year completions trend.

FieldCompletions / yrMedian earnings, 4 yrs outMedian debtEarnings premiumRisk score
Health Professions & Clinical Sciences76Low · 0

Earnings-premium status is an indicative estimate: median graduate earnings four years out vs the CA state median earnings of a high-school graduate (undergraduate credentials) or a bachelor’s-degree holder (graduate credentials) from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (2022 ACS 5-year). The official U.S. Department of Education determination uses its own cohort definition and may differ.

The risk score (0–100) is an indicative blend of earnings-premium margin and the five-year completions trend—higher means a field pays closer to (or below) the benchmark and is shrinking. A directional screen, not an official determination.

See the interactive dashboard for all fields and credential levels (associate through doctoral). Source: College Scorecard Field of Study.

How selective is California Northstate University?
California Northstate University admits about 92% of applicants, and roughly 86% of first-year students return for a second year.
What is California Northstate University's student-faculty ratio?
California Northstate University reports a student-faculty ratio of 7:1 (IPEDS, fall 2023) — that is, about 7 students for every instructional faculty member.
Which schools are California Northstate University's peers?
California Northstate University is benchmarked against 28 institutions in the Other / Unclassified · Private for-profit peer group; all percentiles and medians on this page are computed within that group.

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Source: U.S. Department of Education — College Scorecard & IPEDS (most recent releases), with the U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Employment Projections, field-demand outlook) and WICHE (enrollment-cliff projections). Figures lag the current academic year by roughly two to three years. Percentiles and medians are computed within the institution's peer group. Financial Resilience is a transparent composite — see each component above. Compiled by Ibex Insights.