College profile
Dominican University of California
CA · Private nonprofit · Small city · 2,011 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The campus itself adds earnings power. Opportunity Insights tracks it: only about 6% of students arrive from the bottom income fifth, but those who do reach the top fifth by their 30s at a 53% rate — a strong sign the outcomes here are the campus, not just the intake.
- The 6× payoff headline requires aid. Without aid this runs ~$71,751/yr. There's no income cutoff for need-based aid — whether you qualify depends on the gap between a school's price and your family's finances, so at a price like this even six-figure incomes often show need. Families who receive aid average ~$35,333/yr — against that, ten years of median earnings run ~6× the cost. Run the college's own net-price calculator before anchoring on the multiple.
- Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
AccessibleAccessible for most applicants.
Best for
- Solid academic profiles — the admitted-student bands above are within reach for strong students
- Students focused on Health Professions (the school's signature program)
- Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience
- A long-term payoff that holds even at full price — ten years at the $84,713 median runs about $560K ahead of four years at the ~$71,751/yr sticker (aid recipients average ~$35,333/yr)
The reality
- You'd be near the bottom of their admitted class if: SAT below 1070, or ACT below 22, or unweighted GPA below ~3.50 (test bands are the school's own; the GPA floor is our estimate, not a published figure)
- High cost — full price is ~$71,751/yr without aid, and aid-receiving families still average ~$35,333/yr — verify the major's earnings track record before committing
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
Enter their numbers once — this and every college page shows their verdict, and the UC campus cards on California school pages light up with it too. Free, no email.
Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
5% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 2% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
The real cost
What Dominican University of California actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Dominican University of California's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$560K ahead at full price +$706K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Dominican University of California
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Dominican University of California actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Dominican University of California's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing. | $149,622 |
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | $88,913 |
| Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General. | $82,911 |
| Biology, General. | $75,913 |
| Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities. | $65,780 |
| Psychology, General. | $61,339 |
| Communication, Journalism, and Related Programs, Other. | $58,005 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantDominican University of California is a private nonprofit four-year college in CA. It admitted 96% of applicants (2,011 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Middle 50% of enrolled first-years who submitted that test: SAT 1070–1291, ACT 22–30. 5% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, 2% an ACT — these ranges describe students who submitted, not the whole class.
Cost: about $35,333 a year on average with aid, $71,751 a year at full price.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $84,713 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $705,798 ahead with aid, $560,126 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing ($149,622); Business Administration, Management and Operations ($88,913); Health Services/Allied Health/Health Sciences, General ($82,911).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 6% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 53% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
Nursing: freshmen are admitted directly into the nursing major; NCLEX-RN first-time pass rate 78.2% (2024/2025, California Board of Registered Nursing).
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/dominican-university-of-california.json