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🎓 College profile

Pitzer College

CA · Private nonprofit · Large suburb · 3,464 applicants 2023

17% admit rate $46,793/yr at $110k+ income

🧭 A parent's read

  • The 5× payoff headline requires aid. Without aid this runs ~$86,466/yr, and many families above ~$110K income won't qualify for need-based aid here. Families who do receive aid average ~$34,191/yr — against that, ten years of median earnings run ~5× 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.

Get your child's odds at Pitzer College Free Family Decision Report — Reach / Match / Likely + your real net price. Pitzer College starts already on the list. Start →

🎯 Parent/student verdict

Strong target

Selective but achievable for strong students.

✅ Best for

  • Strong overall academic profile (avg admit unweighted GPA 3.99 per CDS — school is test-optional, so the transcript carries the most weight)
  • Students drawn to Social Sciences or Natural Resources & Conservation (the two biggest majors)
  • Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience

🎯 The reality

  • Bottom-quartile academic profile if: unweighted GPA below 3.79 (admitted-class quartiles per the school's own data)
  • Test-optional — but selective. Transcript GPA, course rigor, and essays do the heavy lifting
  • With selective universities, build a balanced college list of Reaches, Targets, and Safeties ⓘ

Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price by income, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.

🏛️ Institutional snapshot

What kind of college is this?

Carnegie classification
Baccalaureate Colleges: Arts & Sciences Focus
Total enrollment
1,227
1,000 - 4,999
TuitionThe published full price before any aid. Families who don't qualify for need-based aid — common above ~$110K income — pay this, minus any merit scholarships.
$65,192
flat rate (no in/out-of-state split)
Admit rateThe share of applicants a college accepts. Useful context, but your student's odds depend on their own grades and scores, not the average.
16.7%
Highly selective
Test policyApplicants choose whether to send SAT/ACT scores. At many such colleges, students who submit strong scores are still admitted at higher rates.
Test-optional
2023
10-yr earningsMedian yearly pay of former students ten years after they STARTED here — not ten years after graduating — all majors combined. The broadest single outcome number a college reports.
$69,512
median, after entry

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.

🎓 High-school GPA

3.99 avg unweightedGPA on the plain 4.0 scale, no honors/AP bonus. When a college publishes an "average admitted GPA of 3.9," it's often this scale — don't compare it to a weighted 4.3. GPA, enrolled first-years

unweighted 4.0 scale. Common Data Set 2023-24 ↗

As published by the college in its Common Data Set / admissions data (2023-24) — independently verified 2026-07-23 (source linked above). GPA basis (weighted vs. unweighted vs. 4.0-scale) varies by college and is labeled above.

📊 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).

Earnings, 6 yrs after entry
$51,784
Earnings, 10 yrs after entryMedian yearly pay of former students ten years after they STARTED here — not ten years after graduating — all majors combined. The broadest single outcome number a college reports.
$69,512
4-year completionThe share of students who finish a bachelor's in four years. Nationally barely half do — and a fifth year quietly adds a full extra year of cost to the real price.
83%
Median debt (completers)The federal-loan balance of the typical graduating borrower. Families who pay cash aren't counted, so read it as "among those who borrowed."
$16,750

💰 The real cost

What families at your income actually pay

Above $110K income — where most Reach families sit — aid-receiving families average $46,793/yr at Pitzer College; families who don't qualify for aid pay the full ~$86,466/yr. Lower brackets pay less — the full ladder is below. One caveat, once: every bracket figure here averages only the families in that bracket who received aid — it says nothing about whether your family will qualify.

🔎 Earning over $110K? You're above the top federal bracket — the median family headed by a 45-to-54-year-old (the prime college-parent years) earned about $134K in 2024, and the federal data lumps everyone from $110K to $1M+ into one row.

Whether you'll get need aidGrant money based on your family's finances (via FAFSA and the college's own forms), not your student's stats. at this income is entirely college-specific: a few heavily-endowed schools meet full need well past $150K, while many others give little above the brackets shown — there, merit scholarships, where offered, become the realistic lever.

Start your Family Decision Report →

Your odds + estimated net price across your whole college list — then confirm the exact figure with Pitzer College's own Net Price Calculator ↗ (10–15 min; have your tax return handy).

Family income $110k+ most Reach families
$46,793/yr
Family income $75-110k
$29,452/yr
Family income $48-75k
$20,846/yr
Family income $30-48k
$7,769/yr
Family income $0-30k
$14,535/yr

📈 The payoffTen years of typical earnings divided by four years of cost. A 3× means a decade of median pay covers the cost three times over — check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you., both ways

2.0× at full price 5.1× with aid
Full price, no aidThe all-in yearly price — tuition, housing, food, books, fees — before any aid. This is the real "full price," not just the tuition line. (4 yrs)
$345,864
~$86,466/yr all-in
Aid recipients pay (4 yrs)
$136,764
$34,191/yr average
10-yr earnings total
$695,120
$69,512/yr median, 10 yrs out
Years to recoup the cost
5.0 yrs
at full price (2.0 with aid), at the median earnings rate

Source: College Scorecard (NPT41–NPT45; Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates; suppressed brackets = small cohorts; the $110K+ ceiling is a federal data limitation — the brackets haven't been refreshed since the early 2010s). Payoff multiple = (10-yr median earnings × 10) ÷ (4-yr cost); 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 Pitzer College

Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Pitzer College actually graduates — not just what it markets.

1. Social Sciences
65 degrees · 36.3%
Economics + poli sci sub-disciplines pay much more than sociology + anthropology.
2. Natural Resources & Conservation
33 degrees · 18.4%
Forestry, environmental science, conservation work — often public-sector or NGO.
3. Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies
30 degrees · 16.8%
Often paired with another field (data + biology, design + tech). Outcomes match the second discipline.
4. Business, Management, & Marketing
26 degrees · 14.5%
Broad set of corporate roles. Finance + consulting pay top, accounting + HR pay middle, sales spread is wide.
5. Biological & Biomedical Sciences
25 degrees · 14.0%
Many bio majors → med school / grad school. Direct-employment bio roles are lower-paid than that pipeline.

💼 What those majors earn here

Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Pitzer College's own graduates, not national averages.

Major (CIP) Credential Cohort 1-yr earnings 4-yr earnings
Human Resources Management and Services. Bachelor's Degree 22 — $89,636
Political Science and Government. Bachelor's Degree 26 — $68,831

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. Why it matters even if you're full-pay: a high mobility rate means the campus itself confers earnings power — the outcomes aren't just selection effects.

Top-1% access
13.6%
from top-1% households
Mobility rateThe share of ALL students who arrived from the bottom 20% of family incomes AND reached the top 20% themselves by their early 30s — access and lift in one number, and a sign the campus itself adds earnings power.
2.2%
bottom 20% → top 20% by age 32
Upward rate
35.5%
of lower-income students who reach the top 20%
Pell recipientsStudents receiving federal Pell grants, which go to lower- and middle-income families — the standard shorthand for a college's economic mix.
11%
on federal need grants — context for these numbers

Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →

🤖 AI program signal

AI + computing education at Pitzer College

CS degrees (annual)
2
CIP 11.0701 + 11.0101

Full multi-lens comparison: /ai-colleges →

Alternatives to Pitzer College

Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.

🏆 Better merit-aid options
These similar-selectivity schools publish merit scholarships your family can plan around — your kid’s stats could unlock real scholarship dollars.
University of Chicago
IL · Private nonprofit
1 stats-based + 1 competitive scholarships
University of Southern California
CA · Private nonprofit
5 competitive merit scholarships
Vanderbilt University
TN · Private nonprofit
4 competitive merit scholarships
💰 Lower full price
Similar selectivity, but a meaningfully lower full sticker price — the comparison that matters most for families who won't qualify for much need-based aid.
University of Florida
FL · Public
$22,523/yr full price (in-state) · $63,943 less before aid
Alcorn State University
MS · Public
$23,751/yr full price (in-state) · $62,715 less before aid
Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University
FL · Public
$23,970/yr full price (in-state) · $62,496 less before aid
🛡️ Safer in-state options
Same state and similar selectivity, but with a more forgiving admit rate — useful safety / match anchors.
University of California-Santa Barbara
CA · Public
28% admit rate (vs 17% here)
California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo
CA · Public
30% admit rate (vs 17% here)
San Diego State University
CA · Public
34% admit rate (vs 17% here)
🚀 Stronger campus value-add
Per Opportunity Insights, these campuses add more earnings power to the students they enroll than Pitzer College does — a quality signal, not a cost play.
University of California-Irvine
CA · Public
6.8% mobility rate (vs 2.2% here)
University of California-Los Angeles
CA · Public
5.6% mobility rate (vs 2.2% here)
University of California-Berkeley
CA · Public
4.9% mobility rate (vs 2.2% here)

⚖️ Or compare any college side-by-side

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