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The Colleges of Law at Santa Barbara

Santa Barbara, CA · official site ↗

Private nonprofitSpecial Focus: LawGraduate/Professional
60
Fin. Resilience
Resilience score

vs. 21 peers in its group

How is this calculated?

The Colleges of Law at Santa Barbara is a private nonprofit institution in Santa Barbara, CA, classified by Carnegie as “Special Focus: Law.”

It is benchmarked here against 21 peer institutions (Special Focus: Law · Private nonprofit).

On Ibex's Financial Resilience score it rates 60 out of 100 within that peer group, a transparent composite of endowment per undergraduate, net tuition revenue per student, and instructional spend per student.

That score and the financial health index below are not the same measure and can disagree: the resilience score ranks per-student resource levels against this peer group, while the financial health index scores the institution's own balance sheet and operating result on the CFI scale, independent of peers. A school with modest resources per student can still run a sound balance sheet, and a wealthy one can still post an operating loss.

Its strongest standing relative to peers is 3-yr cohort default rate (0%, 5th percentile).

Its weakest is net-price momentum (CAGR) (13.2%).

Peer group

Special Focus: Law · Private nonprofit

21 institutions

No cross-metric risk flags triggered.
What changedlargest year-over-year moves
Net tuition revenue / FTE ▲ +13% $34,152 → $38,735 2023→2024
Instructional spend / FTE ▲ +4% $10,598 → $11,010 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 The Colleges of Law at Santa Barbara 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.

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, 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.

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Financial Health Index

-0.1
on a −4 to 10 scale
Financial Health IndexStress

NACUBO Composite Financial Index, the balance-sheet health score accreditors and institutional boards use to gauge financial health; bond-rating agencies track similar ratios. reported at parent/system level, reflects The Colleges of Law at Ventura (excluded from rankings and peer percentiles). Carries little or no plant debt, so the viability ratio is excluded and weights re-normalized.

Primary reserve 55%0 mo
Return on net assets 30%-0.2%
Operating result 15%-0.3%

Composite of four ratios on a strength-factor scale (−4 weak → 10 strong): below 3 falls short of the threshold for financial health, below 1 signals acute stress, and above 6 is strong. Computed from IPEDS FY2022-23, the most recent finance release (it lags the current year by 2–3 years). Branch campuses that report finances at a parent/system level can show distorted ratios. For informational benchmarking, not a credit rating or financial advice.

Revenue composition

Where the money comes from $6M total revenue · IPEDS FY2022-23

Reported at parent/system level, reflects The Colleges of Law at Ventura.

Tuition & fees is the largest single source at 99% of revenue.

Tuition & fees99.3%
Private gifts & grants0.4%
Other revenue0.3%

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.

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
$38,735
79th percentile in peer grouppeer median $28,157
higher is better
2024-25 (Scorecard)21 peers
▲ +169% steady
Instructional spend / FTESpending on instruction per FTE student, how much of the budget reaches the classroom.Calculated from filings
Average
$11,010
40th percentile in peer grouppeer median $14,158
higher is better
2024-25 (Scorecard)21 peers
▲ +73% steady
Endowment (end of year)Total endowment value at year end, long-term invested wealth that funds operations and cushions shocks.
$3M
Parent/system level
Reported at parent/system level, reflects The Colleges of Law at Ventura. Excluded from rankings and peer percentiles.
Operating marginNet surplus as a share of total revenue, whether the institution runs in the black.
Deficit
-0.3%
Parent/system level
Reported at parent/system level, reflects The Colleges of Law at Ventura. Excluded from rankings and peer percentiles.
Tuition dependencyTuition's share of total revenue, how exposed the budget is to enrollment swings.
99.5%
Parent/system level
Reported at parent/system level, reflects The Colleges of Law at Ventura. Excluded from rankings and peer percentiles.
Tuition discount rateInstitutional grant aid as a share of gross tuition (IPEDS, private nonprofits only) – the tuition-discount rate. The share of sticker tuition handed back as aid; a high rate (the national average is ~56%) signals heavy price competition for students.
Moderate
1.4%
Parent/system level
Reported at parent/system level, reflects The Colleges of Law at Ventura. Excluded from rankings and peer percentiles.
State appropriations shareState appropriations' share of total revenue, material for public institutions, near zero for private.
0%
Parent/system level
Reported at parent/system level, reflects The Colleges of Law at Ventura. Excluded from rankings and peer percentiles.
Administrative cost shareInstitutional support (central administration, governance, general administration, fundraising, and under FASB the operation & maintenance of plant) as a share of total expenses, private nonprofit (FASB) institutions only, where the figure is comparable. An informational gauge of administrative intensity, not a measure of waste.
32.7%
Parent/system level
Reported at parent/system level, reflects The Colleges of Law at Ventura. Excluded from rankings and peer percentiles.
Months of operating cushionMonths of operating expenses covered by expendable reserves, the institution's cash cushion.
Thin
0 mo
Parent/system level
Reported at parent/system level, reflects The Colleges of Law at Ventura. Excluded from rankings and peer percentiles.
Return on net assetsChange in net assets over the year, whether the institution grew wealthier.
Weak
-0.2%
Parent/system level
Reported at parent/system level, reflects The Colleges of Law at Ventura. Excluded from rankings and peer percentiles.

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.

12-month FTE enrollmentFull-time-equivalent enrollment over the full year, the denominator for per-student finance measures.As filed
86
2nd percentile in peer grouppeer median 538
context, not scored
2023-24 (IPEDS)21 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.
Fully online studentsShare of students enrolled exclusively in distance-education (online) courses.As filed
0%
24th percentile in peer grouppeer median 1%
context, not scored
Fall 2023 (IPEDS)21 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
5%
12th percentile in peer grouppeer median 20%
context, not scored
Fall 202321 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.
Graduate share of enrollmentGraduate students as a share of total enrollment, Fall 2023.As filed
100%
Fall 2023
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
50%
74th percentile in peer grouppeer median 44.6%
context, not scored
Fall 202321 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
22.7%
69th percentile in peer grouppeer median 19.7%
context, not scored
Fall 202321 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.
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
Below peers
2
71st percentile in peer grouppeer median 1
lower is better
2024-25 (Scorecard universe)21 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.
Metro-area unemployment rateUnemployment rate in the school's metro area, ACS 2019-23.As filed
Average
6.1%
58th percentile in peer grouppeer median 5.8%
lower is better
ACS 2019-2320 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.
In-state HS graduatesPublic + private high-school graduates in the school's state, class of 2025.External projection
469,214
83rd percentile in peer grouppeer median 206,184
context, not scored
Class of 2025 (WICHE)20 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.
Net-price momentum (CAGR)Net-price momentum (CAGR).Modelled by Ibex
Below peers
13.2%
98th percentile in peer grouppeer median 0.5%
lower is better
2016-17 to 2024-25 (Scorecard)21 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.

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.

3-yr cohort default rateShare of borrowers defaulting within three years. Lower is better, but values covering 2020 to 2023 are depressed for every school by the federal payment pause, so the level means less than the comparison.Share of borrowers who default within three years of entering repayment. Lower is better.As filed
Strong
0%
5th percentile in peer grouppeer median 2.5%
lower is better
FY2017 cohort21 peers
Share of borrowers who defaulted within three years of entering repayment (U.S. Dept. of Education official cohort default rate). Shown for the FY2017 borrower cohort, the most recent cohort whose full three-year default window closed before the 2020-23 federal student-loan payment pause. More recent cohorts are reported by the College Scorecard at essentially 0%, but that reflects the payment pause (no payments were due, so almost no one could default), not borrower health, so the pre-pause cohort is the last meaningful reading. Lower is better.

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.
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 (all levels)

The Colleges of Law at Santa Barbara’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
Legal Professions & Studies10$78,136
32nd pct · 19 peers
$100,502
11th pct · 19 peers
Above benchmark +4%High · 74

All 1 top fields shown clear the CA state earnings-premium benchmark (indicative).

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)
Legal Professions & Studies – 1 CIP program (4-digit), 1 with earnings
Major (CIP 4-digit)Compl./yrEarn 4yrEarn 1yr% > thresholdMedian debtDebt/earnEarnings premium2 of 3 yrs
LawCIP 2201 ›10$78,136 n=40–77.8% 1yr$100,5021.29×Above benchmark +4%–

Major-level earnings, debt and threshold pass-rates are reported by College Scorecard only where enough graduates exist to protect privacy, so 1 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 financially healthy is The Colleges of Law at Santa Barbara?
The Colleges of Law at Santa Barbara does not file its own IPEDS finance survey, its finances are reported by its parent institution, The Colleges of Law at Ventura, which scores -0.1 (Stress) on the NACUBO Composite Financial Index (the −4 to 10 balance-sheet score accreditors and boards use), computed from IPEDS FY2022-23 finances. This parent-level figure is informational benchmarking, not a credit rating.
Are The Colleges of Law at Santa Barbara's programs at risk under the federal earnings-premium test?
Indicatively, the single largest field with available earnings data at The Colleges of Law at Santa Barbara cleared the CA state earnings-premium benchmark on the latest reported cohort, as did all 1 of the individual majors within them, in each of the latest reported cohort-years. The 2025 federal test (effective July 1, 2026) can withdraw Title IV eligibility from a program whose graduates earn less than a typical worker without the credential for 2 of 3 years. This is an estimate using College Scorecard field-of-study earnings against ACS state and national medians; the Department of Education's official determination uses its own cohort definition and may differ.
Which schools are The Colleges of Law at Santa Barbara's peers?
The Colleges of Law at Santa Barbara is benchmarked against 21 institutions in the Special Focus: Law · Private nonprofit peer group; all percentiles and medians on this page are computed within that group.

Compare with peers

Albany Law SchoolAppalachian School of LawAtlanta's John Marshall Law SchoolAve Maria School of LawBrooklyn Law SchoolCalifornia Western School of Law

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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.