California Northstate University
Elk Grove, CA · official site ↗
Private for-profitFour-year institution (not classified by Carnegie)
95
Fin. Resilience
California Northstate University is a private for-profit institution in Elk Grove, CA, classified by Carnegie as “Four-year institution (not classified by Carnegie).”
It enrolls about 37 undergraduates and is benchmarked here against 51 peer institutions (Four-year · Private for-profit).
On Ibex's Financial Resilience score it rates 95 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 avg monthly faculty salary ($11,611, 99th percentile).
Its weakest is consecutive years of enrollment decline (3 yrs).
Ibex's cross-metric scan flags: Undergrad enrollment down 81% since 2021.
Peer group
Four-year · Private for-profit
51 institutions
Undergrad enrollment down 81% since 2021
What changedlargest year-over-year moves
Undergraduate enrollment
▼ -46%
69 → 37
2023→2024
Graduation rate (6-yr · first-time, full-time)
▲ +14%
87.9% → 100%
2023→2024
Admission rate
▲ +9%
84.9% → 92.5%
2023→2024
First-year retention
▼ -5%
90% → 85.7%
2023→2024
Instructional spend / FTE
▼ -4%
$27,001 → $25,946
2023→2024
Most recent single-year change in each tracked metric. Green = moved in this metric’s favorable direction, red = unfavorable, grey = size or context, not scored. Each row uses the latest pair of years that metric has, and federal collections release on different schedules, so the years differ from row to row: read the years on the row, not just the ranking. A single year is also not a trend, the multi-year series is on each metric’s card below.
Policy & demographic exposure
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, Grad PLUS elimination, new Parent PLUS borrowing cap and new Workforce Pell short-term-credential opportunity, and the demographic enrollment cliff. Only signals that apply to this institution are shown.
Structural risk indexAn indicative 0–100 structural-risk index (higher = more pressure) blending operating margin, months of cash cushion, tuition dependency and the home-state enrollment cliff. Screens for the financial and demographic strain that precedes closures and mergers, directional, not a prediction.
61
ElevatedEnrollment 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 declineIndicative signals, not forecasts, see each metric’s definition and the methodology. Endowment-tax, Grad PLUS, Parent PLUS and Workforce Pell figures appear only where the institution is actually exposed; “nationally” compares against all schools that report each signal.
Turn these signals into action
Seeing exposure is step one. Ibex builds AI agents that monitor and act on exactly these pressures, explore an interactive demo. Live demos run real workflows; the rest are working mockups we build to your institution’s data.
Enrollment shock
What an enrollment loss would do to the budgetTuition revenue falls with the students; every other revenue line and the entire cost base are held where they are. It measures the size of the hole a decline would open, not what the institution would end up reporting after it responded.
Tuition and fees fund 71% of this institution’s revenue, and it runs a 18.8% operating margin. It could lose about 26.3% of its enrollment before the surplus becomes a deficit, if nothing else changed.
12.5%
operating margin after the loss, with costs unchanged
A deliberately simple counterfactual: net tuition per student and total costs stay where the latest IPEDS finance filing put them, so only the tuition line moves. No institution facing this would hold costs flat, which is the point, the figure is the gap that would have to be closed, not a forecast of the margin it would report. A school that responds by discounting harder to hold headcount converts the same problem into a net-price one, and it does not show up here.
Revenue composition
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.
Federal funding mix
Which agencies fund this schoolThe share of this school's federal funding that comes from each awarding agency in FY2024. These are dollars agencies committed (obligations), not dollars the school spent, so the total will not match the audited federal-awards-expended figure elsewhere on this page. Matched to the school by its own SAM.gov Unique Entity ID.
$1M obligated · FY2024
Defense alone accounts for 100% of it.
Defense100.0%
Federal dollars each agency committed to this institution in FY2024, as a share of its total positive obligations (USAspending.gov). Obligations are money committed, not money spent, so this total will not match the audited “Federal awards expended” figure elsewhere on this page. Amounts an agency reclaimed during the year are excluded.
Financial Health
The bar under each rank is the spread across the peer group: the shaded box is the middle half, the pale line is their median, and the gold marker is this institution. Hover for the figures.
Net tuition revenue / FTETuition revenue per full-time-equivalent student after institutional aid/discounts, what tuition actually nets.Calculated from filings
Strong
$60,753
94th percentile in peer grouppeer median $16,006
higher is better
2024-25 (Scorecard)40 peers
Instructional spend / FTESpending on instruction per FTE student, how much of the budget reaches the classroom.Calculated from filings
Strong
$25,946
96th percentile in peer grouppeer median $6,498
higher is better
2024-25 (Scorecard)40 peers
In-state tuition & feesPublished price before any aid. Shown as context, not as good or bad: at most private colleges almost nobody pays it, and a high sticker often sits on top of deep discounting, so a cheaper-looking school can cost a given family more. Compare schools on net price instead; sticker price is here because it is what gets quoted.Published in-state tuition and fees before aid (sticker price).As filed
$57,463
98th percentile in peer grouppeer median $23,093
context, not scored
2024-25 (Scorecard)32 peers
Out-of-state tuition & feesPublished price before any aid. Shown as context, not as good or bad: at most private colleges almost nobody pays it, and a high sticker often sits on top of deep discounting, so a cheaper-looking school can cost a given family more. Compare schools on net price instead; sticker price is here because it is what gets quoted.Published out-of-state tuition and fees before aid (sticker price).As filed
$57,463
98th percentile in peer grouppeer median $23,093
context, not scored
2024-25 (Scorecard)32 peers
Avg monthly faculty salaryWhat the institution pays its faculty. Scored as higher-is-better because it tracks an institution's ability to attract and hold teaching staff. It also tracks local cost of living, so compare within a region before drawing a conclusion.Average monthly salary of full-time faculty (IPEDS) – a proxy for faculty investment.As filed
Strong
$11,611
99th percentile in peer grouppeer median $7,414
higher is better
2024-25 (Scorecard)39 peers
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.Calculated from filings
Strong
18.8%
79th percentile in peer grouppeer median 7.2%
higher is better
FY2022-2312 peers
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.Calculated from filings
71.4%
21st percentile in peer grouppeer median 94%
context, not scored
FY2022-2312 peers
Tuition & fees as a share of total revenue (IPEDS FY2022-23). Higher = more exposed to enrollment swings.
Full-professor average salaryWhat the institution pays its faculty. Scored as higher-is-better because it tracks an institution's ability to attract and hold teaching staff. It also tracks local cost of living, so compare within a region before drawing a conclusion.Average salary of full (tenured-rank) professors, 9-month equated, 2023-24.As filed
$184,645
2023-24
Average salary paid to full professors, the most senior instructional rank (IPEDS Human Resources, 2023-24, 9-month equated). It reflects both the school's pay scale and the seniority of its faculty, and it is a sizeable share of academic cost. Banded against the school's peer group.
Structural risk indexAn indicative 0–100 structural-risk index (higher = more pressure) blending operating margin, months of cash cushion, tuition dependency and the home-state enrollment cliff. Screens for the financial and demographic strain that precedes closures and mergers, directional, not a prediction.Blended index
Elevated
61
FY2022-23 (IPEDS) with WICHE 2024 projections
An indicative 0–100 structural-risk index (higher = more pressure), an equal-weight blend of the stress signals we measure: thin or negative operating margin, low months of operating cushion, high tuition dependency, and a shrinking home-state high-school-graduate pipeline (enrollment cliff). Averaged over whichever signals are available (at least two required). It screens for the financial and demographic pressures that precede closures and mergers, a directional indicator, NOT a prediction that any institution will close, and not a credit rating. Built from the FY2022-23 IPEDS finance filing, the most recent one published, combined with WICHE's high-school-graduate projections. The finance side is two to three years old, so a school that has since raised money, cut costs or lost enrollment will not be reflected here. It is a structural signal, not a current diagnosis, and it is not a prediction that any named institution will close.
Federal funding obligatedHow much externally funded research the institution does. Shown as scale, not quality: it reflects mission, and an institution that does no sponsored research is not thereby worse at teaching. Useful for finding peers of comparable research intensity.Total federal dollars all agencies committed to this institution in FY2024, across grants, contracts, and student aid.As filed
$1M
FY2024 (USAspending.gov)
Obligations reported to USAspending.gov for FY2024 (Oct 2023 to Sep 2024), summed across every awarding agency. This is money committed, not money spent, so it will not equal the audited 'Federal awards expended' figure and the two should not be subtracted from one another. Negative amounts (agencies reclaiming prior commitments) are excluded.
Federal funding agenciesHow many distinct federal agencies committed money to this institution in FY2024.As filed
1
FY2024 (USAspending.gov)
A count of awarding agencies with positive FY2024 obligations. Neither high nor low is inherently better: a community college funded solely by the Department of Education is behaving normally, while a research university typically draws on ten or more agencies.
Largest funder's shareShare of federal funding that comes from the single largest awarding agency.Calculated from filings
100%
FY2024 (USAspending.gov)
The largest agency's FY2024 obligations as a share of the institution's total positive federal obligations. Read it as concentration, not risk: most teaching colleges sit near 100% because nearly all their federal money is Department of Education student aid.
Enrollment loss before deficitHow much of its enrollment the institution could lose before running an operating deficit, if it changed nothing else.Modelled by Ibex
Wide cushion
26.3%
88th percentile in peer grouppeer median 9.2%
higher is better
FY2022-2312 peers
The share of its students an institution could lose before its operating surplus becomes a deficit, assuming net tuition per student and total costs stay where they are. It comes straight from two figures in the same IPEDS finance filing: the operating margin, and tuition's share of total revenue. A school with a 3% surplus that funds 85% of itself from tuition can absorb about a 3.5% enrollment loss; the same 3% surplus at a school funding a quarter of itself from tuition absorbs about 12%. Zero means the institution is already running a deficit. It is not a prediction: no institution facing that loss would hold costs flat, and the number is the size of the hole that would have to be closed, not the outcome. Banded against the school's peer group. Higher is better.
Operating margin after a 10% enrollment lossWhat the operating margin becomes if a tenth of the students go and nothing else changes.Modelled by Ibex
Still in surplus
12.5%
79th percentile in peer grouppeer median -0.9%
higher is better
FY2022-2312 peers
The institution's operating margin recomputed after losing one student in ten, holding net tuition per student and total costs constant. Tuition revenue falls with the students; every other revenue line and the whole cost base stay put. A tenth is the scale of decline the demographic projections already put on several states' high-school graduating classes, so it is a scenario rather than a worst case. Not a forecast: a real institution would cut costs, and this measures the gap it would have to cut, not what it would end up reporting. Built from the operating margin and tuition dependency in the same IPEDS filing. Banded against the school's peer group. Higher is better.
Graduation & completion
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.
Enrollment & Pipeline
The bar under each rank is the spread across the peer group: the shaded box is the middle half, the pale line is their median, and the gold marker is this institution. Hover for the figures.
Undergraduate enrollmentNumber of degree-seeking undergraduates (IPEDS fall headcount). A size measure, not a quality signal.As filed
37
9th percentile in peer grouppeer median 335
context, not scored
2024-25 (Scorecard)41 peers
Admission rateShare of applicants admitted. Not scored: a low admit rate measures demand and application volume, not teaching, and it is easy to manufacture by soliciting applications the school intends to reject.Share of applicants offered admission. Lower means more selective; open-admission schools report none.As filed
92.5%
8th percentile in peer grouppeer median 100%
context, not scored
2024-25 (Scorecard)18 peers
First-year retentionShare of first-time, full-time freshmen who return for a second year, an early signal of student fit and support.As filed
Strong
85.7%
88th percentile in peer grouppeer median 57.5%
higher is better
2024-25 (Scorecard)28 peers
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.As filed
100%
2024-25 (Scorecard) · cohort of 44
Share of first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen who earned a bachelor's at this institution within six years (150% of normal time), per College Scorecard. The number of students in the entering cohort is shown under the figure. Where that cohort is smaller than 30 students no rate is published: a graduation rate over a handful of students moves by whole percentage points per student and is not a result.
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 usually runs below the six-year rate, because many students take a fifth or sixth year. The two are not the same students: the on-time rate is measured on a class that entered two years after the one behind the six-year rate, so at a school whose outcomes are moving the newer class can post the higher figure.As filed
100%
2024-25 (Scorecard) · cohort of 44
Share of first-time, full-time degree-seeking freshmen who earned a bachelor's within four years (100% of normal time), per College Scorecard. The number of students in the entering cohort is shown under the figure, and no rate is published on a cohort smaller than 30. This rate and the six-year rate are measured on classes that entered two years apart, so at a school whose outcomes are moving they will not always fall in the order you would expect.
Pell recipient shareShare of undergraduates receiving a Pell grant, the standard proxy for how many low-income students a school enrolls. Not scored in either direction: it is a measure of who a school serves, and both a high and a low share are defensible depending on the mission.Share of undergraduates on a federal Pell Grant, a proxy for the share from lower-income families.As filed
0%
4th percentile in peer grouppeer median 58.8%
context, not scored
2024-25 (Scorecard)40 peers
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.As filed
Strong
100%
95th percentile in peer grouppeer median 64.7%
higher is better
2024-25 (Scorecard)10 peers
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.
Adult learners (25+)Share of undergraduates aged 25 or older.As filed
4.2%
1st percentile in peer grouppeer median 72.4%
context, not scored
2023-24 (Scorecard)36 peers
Share of undergraduates aged 25 or older (College Scorecard, 2023-24). Read as context on the student mix: schools serving many working adults look different on persistence and part-time measures than traditional-age campuses, and neither is inherently better. From the College Scorecard 2023-24 data file.
Part-time undergraduatesShare of undergraduates enrolled part-time.As filed
0%
10th percentile in peer grouppeer median 32.7%
context, not scored
2024-25 (Scorecard)40 peers
Share of undergraduates enrolled part-time (College Scorecard, 2024-25). Context, not quality: a high part-time share is common at community and commuter institutions and affects graduation-rate comparisons, which are based only on full-time, first-time students.
Women (share of undergraduates)Share of undergraduates who are women.As filed
56.8%
6th percentile in peer grouppeer median 90.3%
context, not scored
2024-25 (Scorecard)41 peers
Share of undergraduates who are women (College Scorecard, 2024-25). Reported as context on the student mix, not a measure of quality.
Transfer-out rateShare of students who transfer out. Not scored: it runs high at access-oriented and two-year feeder schools whose students are supposed to move on to a four-year program.Share of students who transfer to a different school within the tracking window. Shown as context, not quality.As filed
0%
2024-25 (Scorecard)
Share of students who transfer OUT to a different institution within the tracking window (College Scorecard, 2024-25). Reported as context, not a quality measure: it runs high at access-oriented schools and two-year feeders whose students routinely move on to a four-year program, and it should be read together with the completion and retention figures rather than on its own.
Admission yieldAs filed
Below peers
8.3%
4th percentile in peer grouppeer median 38.8%
higher is better
Fall 202314 peers
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.
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.Calculated from filings
Highly concentrated
10,000
2022-23
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.As filed
963
94th percentile in peer grouppeer median 352
context, not scored
2023-24 (IPEDS)41 peers
Full-time-equivalent enrollment over the full 12-month year (IPEDS 12-month enrollment, 2023-24). 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.As filed
7:1
4th percentile in peer grouppeer median 20:1
context, not scored
Fall 202336 peers
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.
Fully online studentsShare of students enrolled exclusively in distance-education (online) courses.As filed
0%
36th percentile in peer grouppeer median 0%
context, not scored
Fall 2023 (IPEDS)38 peers
Share of students enrolled exclusively in distance-education courses (IPEDS, Fall 2023). Describes delivery model, not quality; online-heavy institutions look different on residential measures.
Applicant-pool diversity shiftProjected change in the non-white share of the home state's public high-school graduating class, class of 2025 to 2037.Modelled by Ibex
+5 pts
WICHE 2024 (11th ed.)
Percentage-point change in the non-white share of the institution's home-state public high-school graduating class between the class of 2025 (the national peak) and 2037 (WICHE, Knocking at the College Door, 11th ed., public-school race detail). A forward look at who the future applicant pool will be: a positive value means the state's graduating class is projected to grow more racially diverse. Strategic recruiting context, not a forecast of any one school's enrollment, and a college recruits from many states.
Hybrid (some online) enrollmentShare of students enrolled in some but not all courses online (hybrid), Fall 2023.As filed
0%
11th percentile in peer grouppeer median 100%
context, not scored
Fall 202338 peers
Share of all students taking some, but not all, of their courses at a distance (IPEDS, Fall 2023). This is the hybrid middle ground between the fully online share and the fully in-person share, and it signals how far a school has moved coursework online without going exclusively remote. Context metric, not better or worse. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.
Transfer-in share (undergraduate)Transfer-in students as a share of undergraduate enrollment, Fall 2023.As filed
0%
7th percentile in peer grouppeer median 17.7%
context, not scored
Fall 202336 peers
Transfer-in students as a share of all undergraduates (IPEDS, Fall 2023). A high share means the school depends on transfer pipelines rather than first-time freshmen, which changes both recruitment strategy and melt/retention risk. Context metric, not better or worse. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.
Graduate share of enrollmentGraduate students as a share of total enrollment, Fall 2023.As filed
91.6%
93rd percentile in peer grouppeer median 0%
context, not scored
Fall 202338 peers
Graduate students as a share of total headcount enrollment (IPEDS, Fall 2023). It separates research-intensive universities with large graduate bodies from undergraduate-focused institutions. Context metric, not better or worse. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.
Women share of facultyWomen as a share of instructional staff (full- and part-time), Fall 2023.As filed
44.5%
13th percentile in peer grouppeer median 81%
context, not scored
Fall 202336 peers
Women as a share of all instructional staff, full- and part-time combined (IPEDS Human Resources, Fall 2023). A gender-composition signal for the teaching workforce. Context metric, not better or worse. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.
Faculty of color shareU.S. faculty of color as a share of instructional staff, Fall 2023.As filed
38%
43rd percentile in peer grouppeer median 41.3%
context, not scored
Fall 202336 peers
Instructional staff who are American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, or two-or-more races, as a share of all instructional staff (IPEDS Human Resources, Fall 2023). Nonresident and race-unknown staff are excluded from the numerator. Context metric, not better or worse. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.
Women in applicant poolWomen as a share of all first-time degree-seeking applicants.Calculated from filings
62.6%
4th percentile in peer grouppeer median 92.2%
context, not scored
Fall 202314 peers
Women as a share of the school's first-time degree-seeking applicant pool (IPEDS Admissions, 2023-24). A read on the funnel's composition, useful for targeting and a proxy for program mix: nursing- and education-heavy schools skew female, engineering- and trade-heavy schools skew male. Neither skew is inherently better. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.
Direct competitors within 100 miCount of other institutions within 100 miles. Scored as lower-is-better because it is used here as a competitive-pressure signal for the institution, not as a benefit to students.Number of same-type institutions (same Carnegie class and control) within 100 miles.Calculated from filings
Average
1
54th percentile in peer grouppeer median 1
lower is better
2024-25 (Scorecard universe)45 peers
How many institutions of the same type (same Carnegie classification and control, i.e. the schools competing for the same students) sit within roughly 100 miles. A higher count means a more crowded local market and a harder yield fight, which matters most as the regional pool of high school graduates shrinks; a low count means the school has its catchment largely to itself. Distance is straight-line from campus coordinates. Banded against the school's peer group. Fewer is better for recruiting leverage.
States recruited fromNumber of distinct US states sending at least one first-time student.Calculated from filings
Strong
3
93rd percentile in peer grouppeer median 1
higher is better
Fall 202223 peers
How many distinct US states the school's first-time degree-seeking class is drawn from (IPEDS Residence & Migration, Fall 2022). A higher count signals broader geographic reach and less dependence on any single state's shrinking pool of high school graduates; a low count means the school recruits from a narrow region and is more exposed to that region's demographic decline. Banded against the school's peer group.
Foreign first-time shareShare of first-time students whose legal residence is a foreign country.As filed
0%
Fall 2022
Share of the school's first-time degree-seeking class whose legal residence is outside the United States (IPEDS Residence & Migration, Fall 2022). A measure of international reach in the entering class. Neither high nor low is inherently better; it is context for tuition-revenue mix and exposure to visa and geopolitical risk. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.
Metro-area unemployment rateUnemployment rate in the school's metro area, ACS 2019-23.As filed
Below peers
5.9%
74th percentile in peer grouppeer median 5%
lower is better
ACS 2019-2345 peers
The civilian unemployment rate in the school's metropolitan or micropolitan area (US Census ACS 2019-23, mapped by the school's federal CBSA code). It is a proxy for local labor demand: a lower rate means a tighter job market, a stronger near-term destination for graduates and a smaller pool of working adults to recruit. It describes the local economy, not the school. Schools outside any metro area are not scored. Banded against the school's peer group.
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.External projection
Severe decline
-27.7%
WICHE 2024 (11th ed.) projection
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. A projection, not a measurement: WICHE's state-level forecast of high-school graduates. It describes the pool a school recruits from, not the school's own enrollment.
Shown exactly as the institution filed it. The value falls outside the normal range for this measure, which usually means a reporting quirk rather than a real figure, so read it with care.
Scholarly works publishedHow much externally funded research the institution does. Shown as scale, not quality: it reflects mission, and an institution that does no sponsored research is not thereby worse at teaching. Useful for finding peers of comparable research intensity.Lifetime indexed scholarly works (OpenAlex).As filed
2,170
2024 (OpenAlex)
From OpenAlex, an open catalog of the world's scholarly works. Counts the institution's lifetime indexed research works (papers, datasets, books and other outputs). It separates research-intensive universities from teaching-focused peers and signals scholarly capacity; reported only where OpenAlex has a confident match to this school. Context metric, not better or worse. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.
Research citationsHow much externally funded research the institution does. Shown as scale, not quality: it reflects mission, and an institution that does no sponsored research is not thereby worse at teaching. Useful for finding peers of comparable research intensity.Lifetime citations to the institution's works (OpenAlex).As filed
39,343
2024 (OpenAlex)
From OpenAlex, an open catalog of the world's scholarly works. Counts the institution's lifetime indexed citations received by its scholarly works. It separates research-intensive universities from teaching-focused peers and signals scholarly capacity; reported only where OpenAlex has a confident match to this school. Context metric, not better or worse. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.
Institutional h-indexHow much externally funded research the institution does. Shown as scale, not quality: it reflects mission, and an institution that does no sponsored research is not thereby worse at teaching. Useful for finding peers of comparable research intensity.Institutional h-index (OpenAlex): h works each cited ≥ h times.As filed
76
2024 (OpenAlex)
From OpenAlex. The institution has an h-index of h when h of its works have each been cited at least h times: a single figure blending output and impact. Reported only where OpenAlex has a confident match. Context metric, not better or worse. Banded against peers.
In-state HS graduatesPublic + private high-school graduates in the school's state, class of 2025.External projection
469,214
93rd percentile in peer grouppeer median 143,303
context, not scored
Class of 2025 (WICHE)51 peers
The size of the school's home-state high-school graduating class in 2025 (WICHE Knocking at the College Door, public and private combined). It is the near-term in-state feeder market, the complement to the enrollment-cliff projection, which shows the direction that market is heading. Context metric, not better or worse. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.
Enrollment momentum (CAGR)Enrollment momentum (CAGR).Modelled by Ibex
Below peers
-42.1%
6th percentile in peer grouppeer median 34.5%
higher is better
2021-22 to 2024-25 (Scorecard)25 peers
Compound annual growth rate of undergraduate enrollment over the years the tool tracks (College Scorecard, roughly 2016-2024). Positive means the school is growing; negative means it is shrinking, the leading indicator of demand stress ahead of the demographic cliff. Where the reported count jumps by a merger or a campus consolidation brought under one institution, only the years after that jump are measured, and where too little history follows it no rate is shown. A sharp fall is measured in full: a shrinking count is the signal this metric exists to carry, not an artifact to be cut away. No rate is shown where the enrolment never reaches 25 in the measured window: on a series that small one student is a double-digit annual rate, and a percentile computed from it would rank noise. Banded against the school's peer group. The window shown is the one this school's own figure was measured over: it is shorter where the series starts late, ends early, or is cut at a reporting change, so peers are not all measured over identical years.
Shown exactly as the institution filed it. The value falls outside the normal range for this measure, which usually means a reporting quirk rather than a real figure, so read it with care.
Net-price momentum (CAGR)Net-price momentum (CAGR).Modelled by Ibex
Average
7.5%
61st percentile in peer grouppeer median 1.9%
lower is better
2021-22 to 2024-25 (Scorecard)19 peers
Compound annual growth rate of net tuition revenue per full-time-equivalent student over the tracked years. A high positive rate means the school's real net price is climbing faster than peers, which can strain affordability and yield. Banded against the school's peer group. Lower is better. The window shown is the one this school's own figure was measured over: it is shorter where the series starts late, ends early, or is cut at a reporting change, so peers are not all measured over identical years.
Selectivity momentum (CAGR)Selectivity momentum (CAGR).Modelled by Ibex
Strong
-1.1%
5th percentile in peer grouppeer median 0%
lower is better
2021-22 to 2024-25 (Scorecard)10 peers
Compound annual growth rate of the admission rate over the tracked years. A negative value means the school is admitting a smaller share of applicants over time (getting more selective); a positive value means its admit rate is rising (getting less selective), often a sign of softening demand. Banded against the school's peer group. The window shown is the one this school's own figure was measured over: it is shorter where the series starts late, ends early, or is cut at a reporting change, so peers are not all measured over identical years.
Shown exactly as the institution filed it. The value falls outside the normal range for this measure, which usually means a reporting quirk rather than a real figure, so read it with care.
Enrollment-demand indexComposite 0-100 of admission yield, selectivity and enrollment trend vs peers.Blended index
Below peers
34.0
23rd percentile in peer grouppeer median 50.0
higher is better
2024-25 (Scorecard)15 peers
A 0-100 composite of how much demand the school commands relative to its peer group: the average of its peer percentile ranks for admission yield, selectivity (a lower admit rate counts as stronger demand) and recent enrollment trend. Built only where at least two of those three are reported. Higher means stronger pull in the market. Banded against the school's peer group.
Consecutive years of enrollment declineHow many years in a row undergraduate enrollment has fallen, counting back from the most recent year.Modelled by Ibex
3+ years down
3 yrs
97th percentile in peer grouppeer median 0 yrs
lower is better
2021-22 to 2024-25 (Scorecard)35 peers
The number of consecutive years, ending with the most recent one, in which this school's undergraduate headcount fell. Zero means the latest year was flat or up. A single down year is ordinary; three or more in a row is the pattern that precedes program cuts and closures, and it is visible in the federal data years before it becomes public. A fall smaller than 2% counts as flat, because year-to-year reporting noise at that scale would otherwise manufacture streaks. Measured on the same window as enrollment momentum: where a merger or consolidation makes the earlier years a different institution, only the years after it are counted. Banded against the school's peer group. Lower is better. The window shown is the one this school's own figure was measured over: it is shorter where the series starts late, ends early, or is cut at a reporting change, so peers are not all measured over identical years.
Where students come from
Feeder statesThe home state of every first-time degree-seeking undergraduate in the entering class, as reported to IPEDS. Darker means a larger share of the class; the institution's own state is highlighted separately because at nearly every school it dwarfs the rest.
3 states and territories · Fall 2022
CA 89.5%NY 5.3%PA 5.3%
Home state of first-time degree-seeking undergraduates (IPEDS residence and migration). Each state is one square of equal size, arranged in the rough shape of the country, so a small state sending many students is as visible as a large one. The institution’s own state is shown in gold and every other state is shaded against the largest of them, not against the home state, which otherwise flattens the rest of the map. Shares are of the whole entering class, so they do not add to 100% where students came from abroad.
Admissions test policy
SAT / ACT requirement
IPEDS Fall 2023
Test-optional
This school is test-optional: applicants may submit SAT or ACT scores, but they are not required. Reported to IPEDS for the most recent admissions cycle. Test policy is a live enrollment lever, so it is shown as the school's stated category rather than a peer rank.
Student body
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.
Student Outcomes & Risk
The bar under each rank is the spread across the peer group: the shaded box is the middle half, the pale line is their median, and the gold marker is this institution. Hover for the figures.
Share taking federal loansShare of students taking out federal loans, a borrowing-reliance signal.As filed
0%
4th percentile in peer grouppeer median 81.9%
context, not scored
2024-25 (Scorecard)40 peers
Full-time faculty shareShare of faculty employed full-time, higher generally means more availability and continuity.As filed
Average
48.3%
63rd percentile in peer grouppeer median 25.7%
higher is better
2024-25 (Scorecard)31 peers
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.External projection
Fast-growing field mix
+6.2 pts
83rd percentile nationallynational median +4.7 pts
higher is better
BLS EP 2024-34
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. Shown where at least 50% of completions fall in fields with a coherent occupational mapping and the school reports 100+ annual completions.
Completions in growing fieldsShare of completions in broad fields projected to grow faster than the all-occupations average (+3.1%).External projection
Mostly growth fields
100%
89th percentile nationallynational median 67.9%
higher is better
BLS EP 2024-34
The share of this institution's yearly completions that are in broad fields whose occupations the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects will grow FASTER than the all-occupations average of 3.1% over 2024-34. It answers a different question from the field-demand outlook beside it: that one averages the whole program mix into a single rate, which lets a fast-growing half cancel out a shrinking half. This says how much of the graduating class is on the growing side. The denominator is completions in fields with a coherent occupational mapping, not all completions, because three broad fields map to essentially the whole economy and carry no signal; the share of completions that could be classified at all is shown in the field-mix breakdown. Ranked against every institution in the file rather than against the peer group: what a program mix is worth is set by the national labour market, not by whichever schools happen to share a Carnegie class. An indicative field-level signal, not a placement rate.
Program mix vs the job market
Where this year’s graduates are headingEvery completion this institution awarded in the latest year, grouped by whether the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects the occupations that broad field feeds to grow faster than average, grow more slowly, or shrink over the next ten years.
341 completions · BLS EP 2024-34
100% of completions are in fields projected to grow faster than the job market as a whole.
Faster than average100.0%
Each completion is placed by the broad field of its program, then by whether that field’s occupations are projected to grow faster than the all-occupations average, grow more slowly, or decline. Three broad fields map to essentially the whole economy and carry no field signal, so their completions are shown separately as unclassified rather than being counted either way. Field-level and indicative: it describes the labour markets a program mix feeds, not what any individual graduate does.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page carries one of these labels. They are not degrees of confidence: a projection is not a worse number than a filing, it is a different kind of claim, and the distinction is invisible when both are set in the same grey card.
As filedThis is the institution's own figure as filed with a federal collection, or a federal agency's own published figure about it. Ibex has not adjusted it.
Calculated from filingsCalculated by Ibex from figures in the same federal filing, using nothing but arithmetic: a share, a ratio, or an amount per student. It is exactly as sound as the filed numbers it divides.
Blended indexA blend of several other measures on this page, combined by Ibex. The components and how they are weighted are listed in this metric's description. Reasonable people could weight them differently and get a different score.
Modelled by IbexFitted or extrapolated by Ibex from the institution's reported history. This number appears in no federal file: it is a summary of a trend, and it inherits every irregularity in the years it was fitted through.
External projectionBuilt on an external projection about the future, published by a research body rather than measured. Projections are revised as the underlying assumptions change, and this one describes a scenario, not a fact.
Top fields of study (bachelor's)
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.
| Field | Completions / yr | Median earnings, 4 yrs out | Median debt | Earnings premium | Risk score |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health Professions & Clinical Sciences | 76 | – | – | – | Low · 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.
Major-level detail (CIP 4-digit)
Health Professions & Clinical Sciences – 1 CIP program (4-digit), 0 with earnings
| Major (CIP 4-digit) | Compl./yr | Earn 4yr | Earn 1yr | % > threshold | Median debt | Debt/earn | Earnings premium | 2 of 3 yrs |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, GeneralCIP 5100 › | 76 | – | – | – | – | – | – | – |
Major-level earnings, debt and threshold pass-rates are reported by College Scorecard only where enough graduates exist to protect privacy, so 0 of 1 major shows an earnings figure; the rest read “–”. % > threshold is ED’s own share of graduates out-earning the federal earnings threshold (the do-no-harm pass rate), drawn from the best available measurement window (4-, 5- or 1-year) pooled across all nine College Scorecard Field-of-Study releases; a small chip marks any figure not on the 4-year window, and hovering names the cohort size and source release. 2 of 3 yrs flags fields below the earnings-premium benchmark in two of the latest three reported cohort-years, the statutory trigger under the 2025 test (effective July 1, 2026). Indicative; the Department of Education’s official determination may differ. Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard Field of Study (2014–15 through 2022–23 cohorts + most-recent snapshot), accessed March 2026.
See the interactive dashboard for all fields and credential levels (associate through doctoral). Source: College Scorecard Field of Study.
Frequently asked
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 51 institutions in the Four-year · Private for-profit peer group; all percentiles and medians on this page are computed within that group.
Compare with peers
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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.