Coast Union High School

Cambria · San Luis Obispo County · Coast Unified · Public

Public San Luis Obispo County Coast Unified → ~46 seniors CDS 4075465…

Data Year

Compare with peers

Most similar nearby schools

Liberty High (continuation) → Atascadero Choices In Education Academy (ace) → Independence High → Templeton Independent Study High School → Grizzly Challenge Charter → Compare all similar →

9 AP courses 95% 4-yr grad rate

At a glance

Programs & features

9 AP courses offered — Elite
Dual-enrollment program (college credit while in HS)
1 calculus classes · 1 physics · 4 chemistry

Academic signals

AP rigor: 73rd percentile nationally
4-yr grad rate: 95% in 2019 (75th percentile nationally)

Composed from federal CRDC offerings, EDFacts graduation data, and other public data. Full breakdowns below.

California College-Going Rate

90.3% of the 2022-23 graduating class enrolled in college within a year.

The share of 2022-23 graduates who enrolled at a college anywhere in the U.S. within 12 months, per the National Student Clearinghouse match the California Department of Education publishes.

Within 12 months

90.3%

of 31 graduates

Give the same class four more months and 90.3% had enrolled — CDE publishes a 16-month window alongside the 12-month one, 28 students.

Up 3.3 points from the 2021-22 class (87%).

Where the 2022-23 class enrolled

In California — 26 students (83.9%)

University of California 6.5% 2

California State University 22.6% 7

California Community College 51.6% 16

California private college 3.2% 1

Out of state — 2 students (6.5%)

Out-of-state 4-year 6.5% 2

Out-of-state 2-year 0.0% 0

CDE puts each graduate in one bucket only — whichever kind of college they were enrolled in longest — so these add up to the rate above. That is a different count from the UC Reach Score on this page, which counts a student at every UC campus that admitted them.

Source: California Department of Education, College-Going Rate (DataQuest) ↗, cohort 2022-23, posted 17-Sep-2025. Data file: cgr12mo23.txt ↗ (and the 16-month file ↗). CDE builds the rate by matching California high school completers to National Student Clearinghouse enrollment records; we publish CDE’s aggregates and hold no student-level data.

You've seen Coast Union High School. What are your child's real college odds? Check any college in 10 seconds — no email needed — then get the free Family Decision Report: Reach / Competitive / Match / Likely + the real cost range for every college on their list. Check odds →

How Coast Union High School compares for families

Stronger-than-average college-prep profile.

▸ StatewideAP rigor at the 73rd percentile nationally with 9 AP courses.
▸ vs Similar SchoolsThe closest comparables nearby: Liberty High (continuation), Atascadero Choices In Education Academy (ace), Independence High and 2 more. See the sidebar to compare side-by-side.

For Parents

Get alerts when Coast Union High School's numbers change

New admissions results, enrollment shifts, test scores — a few alerts a year, no spam. Your email also saves your list across devices.

Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.

Academic rigor

AP + advanced-course offerings

Elite — exceptional AP + advanced course breadth

73rd percentile nationally

Less rigorMore rigorMost rigor

AP courses offered

Math ✓ · Science ✓

Students taking AP courses

103

≈65 per 100 students · uptake, not just offerings

Advanced math classes

1 calculus · 4 advanced

Lab science classes

1 physics · 4 chemistry

Other rigor signals

Dual-enrollment program

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). CRDC reports what's offered + enrolled — it doesn't collect AP exam pass rates (College Board owns that data and doesn't release it school-level).

SAT / ACT participation

CRDC federal data · 2020-21

SAT/ACT test-takers

11th-12th graders who took 1+ college admissions test

Test-taking intensity

0.0

takers per 100 students in grades 9-12

Source: federal Civil Rights Data Collection (CRDC 2020-21). Volume — not score — is what's reported here. A higher count means more students at this school are entering the college admissions pipeline. Note: 2020-21 was COVID-disrupted; some districts (especially those that stayed remote longer) report unusually low or zero takers.

4-year graduation rate · federal EDFacts

What % of students graduate on time?

75th percentile nationally

4-year graduation rate

95%

Range: 90–100%

4-year cohort size

Students in the 9th-grade entry class tracked over 4 years

Compared against

17,988

US high schools reporting 4-year ACGR

Source: federal EDFacts ACGR (Adjusted Cohort Graduation Rate), 2019 vintage via Urban Institute. EDFacts publishes a range (low-high) to preserve privacy on small cohorts; we display the midpoint.

Federal Title I context

High-poverty school

Title I Schoolwide eligible

88.7%

FRPL rate — % of students who qualify for the federal Free or Reduced-Price Lunch program. This is the underlying federal income-eligibility signal Title I designations are computed from (ESEA Sec. 1113).

0% (no FRPL) 35% TA · 40% Schoolwide 100% (universal FRPL)

≥75% of students qualify for free/reduced lunch. These schools qualify for the highest tier of federal Title I funding and typically receive extra wraparound services. Academic outcomes vary widely — check the state assessment + grad-rate tiles.

Source: NCES Common Core of Data, free/reduced-price lunch eligibility. The actual Title I designation is a district decision and may differ from eligibility — but the federal eligibility math is what we show here. We don't claim to assert whether the district formally chose to enroll this school in Title I.

SBAC academic outcomes — grade 11, 2025

Share of grade-11 students meeting or exceeding the California standard on Smarter Balanced ELA and Math. This is the academic-readiness signal that pairs with UC Reach (post-grad outcomes), stability (retention), and absenteeism (engagement). Note: statewide median Math is only ~20% — a school at 20% isn't an outlier; one at 45%+ genuinely is.

About 1 in 4 students read and write at grade level — below the state norm — worth asking what extra support looks like.

About 1 in 10 students do math at grade level — below the state norm — worth asking what extra support looks like.

ELA — met or exceeded

n = 37

29.7%

incl. 5.4% exceeded

-26.3 pts vs. San Luis Obispo County median (56.0%) · CA median 54.5% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 79.4%

Math — met or exceeded

n = 37

8.1%

incl. 2.7% exceeded

-9.6 pts vs. San Luis Obispo County median (17.7%) · CA median 21.4% · Top 10% statewide ≥ 53.6%

Source: California Assessment of Student Performance and Progress (CAASPP) Smarter Balanced research files. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥30 tested students.

Student composition — 2025-26

HS grades 9–12 racial/ethnic composition and program subgroups, from CDE Census Day Enrollment. Two-year shift shown when ≥1 pt — surfaces how the community served has changed since 2023-24.

Race / ethnicity

Hispanic / Latino 84% +7.8

White 14% -7.6

Asian 1%

Two or more 1% -1.4

Program subgroups

Socioeconomically disadv. 81% -4.5

English learners 15% +6.6

Homeless 8%

Source: California Department of Education, Census Day Enrollment 2025-26 (HS grades 9–12). Δ shown when shift is ≥1 pt since 2023-24. Categories below 0.5% omitted.

Chronic absenteeism — 2024-25

Share of students missing 10% or more of expected attendance — the leading indicator that often precedes the demand decline shown above. Families disengaging tend to raise absenteeism first, then formally leave. Basis: grades 9–12.

27% of students are chronically absent — near the state norm of about 23%.

Chronic absent

27.1%

46 of 170 students

Absenteeism is up 13.5 pp since 2016-17. A rising absenteeism trend often precedes formal departure — worth investigating which subgroups are driving it.

San Luis Obispo County median

23.1% · school is worse than 57% of 14 HS

Statewide median

22.8%

Chronic absenteeism by year (raw %)

Source: California Department of Education, Chronic Absenteeism 2024-25. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥100 eligible students. CDE didn't publish a usable 2019-20 file (COVID).

Enrollment trend & projection

Total enrollment (9–12)

191 (2018) → 160 (2026)

-16.2%

Grade 12 (graduating class)

54 (2018) → 37 (2026)

-31.5%

If this trend holds (-3.0%/yr, Total enrollment)

At per-pupil funding of $ / student:

Horizon	Projected Total enrollment	Change	Funding impact / yr
1 yr (2027)	~155	-5	$0
3 yr (2029)	~146	-14	$0
5 yr (2031)	~137	-23	$0

Straight-line extrapolation of the recent annual rate — a what-if, not a forecast of intent. Default = California's LCFF base grant for grades 9–12 ($12,423/ADA). Edit the figure to match your school.

How does Coast Union High School really compare on getting kids to college?

Unlock a head-to-head snapshot of Coast Union High School against its 10 most similar nearby schools — matched on size, location, type. See exactly where it stands on the college pipeline.

The full head-to-head table — every peer school's UC Reach, side by side.

Enrollment trend + 3-year projection — is this school growing or quietly shrinking?

The plain-English read on what it all means for your family.

Your similar-school group includes

Liberty High (continuation) · Atascadero Choices In Education Academy (ace) · Independence High · Templeton Independent Study High School · Grizzly Challenge Charter · Mount Toro High · +4 more

Enrollment stability & demand — 2024-25

Two complementary signals: retention (do students stay once enrolled?) and demand (are families choosing the school?). Read against the San Luis Obispo County baseline — the demographic tide is moving every CA HS, so a school's gap vs. county is the actionable signal.

90% of students who start the year here finish it here.

Critical

Sharp demand downturn hidden by elite retention.

Coast Union High School's enrollment is shrinking 22.5× the county rate (school -31.5% vs. county -1.4%). Stability of 90.2% means every family you keep is one fewer; the leverage is at recruitment, not retention. This is the case the high stability number alone would hide.

-31.5% senior class, grade 12 (2018–2026)

-1.4% San Luis Obispo County baseline

-30.1pp gap vs. county

90.2% retention (county median 84.9%)

Senior class (grade 12) — indexed to 100 at 2018

Stability rate by year (raw %)

Stability rate

90.2%

157 of 174 students

17 of 174 students who enrolled at Coast Union High School this year didn't maintain continuous enrollment (9.8% non-stability). Mid-year transfers, dropouts, and other exits are all counted.

San Luis Obispo County median

84.9% · school is in the 75th percentile of 16 HS

Statewide median

87.3% · in the 65th percentile of 1,734 HS

Stability by student group

Socio. disadvantaged (155) 90.3%

Hispanic / Latino (132) 94.7%

English learners (38) 86.8%

White (35) 74.3%

Students w/ disabilities (24) 91.7%

Nearest peer high schools

Liberty High (continuation) 27.5% Atascadero Choices In Education Academy (ace) 72.4% Independence High 49.8% Templeton Independent Study High School 69.0% Grizzly Challenge Charter 0.0%

Source: California Department of Education, Stability Rate 2024-25. Benchmarks limited to non-virtual public & charter HS with ≥100 cumulative enrollees so by-design-high-churn continuation schools don't dominate the bottom of the distribution. Cumulative enrollment counts every student on the rolls during the year, so it can exceed peak-day enrollment.

District financial profile — Coast Unified (FY2020)

From 4 years of NCES F-33 filings (the federally-mandated district finance survey). Public schools don't have their own books — the district does. These figures show the financial scale, revenue dependence, instruction-vs-overhead mix, and long-term debt that shape what a school can sustain.

Total revenue

$16.6M

+12.5% since FY2017

Per-pupil revenue

$30,966

536 students enrolled

Revenue mix

State: 11.6%
Local: 80.9%
Federal: 7.6%

Instruction share

49.5%

of current spending · $12,042/pupil

Long-term debt

$7.9M

-23.9% since FY2017

Total revenue by year ($M)

Total expenditure by year ($M)

Source: NCES F-33 Annual Survey of School System Finances (Urban Institute Education Data API). Latest year currently published: FY2020. F-33 is a district-level federal filing — it reflects the Coast Unified as a whole, not this individual school's books. Revenue mix shows where the district's dollars come from (state aid dominates in CA via LCFF). Instruction share is current expenditure on instruction ÷ total current expenditure (national benchmark ~60%). Long-term debt is end-of-year outstanding (mostly facilities bonds).

UC Reach Score ⓘ methodology

UC Application Reach Score ⓘ

10 applications

In context: CA median 81 · Top 10% statewide ≥ 240 · higher than 4% of CA HS.

UC Admit Rate ⓘ

N/A

— / 10 applications

UC Yield Rate ⓘ

N/A

— enrolled of — admitted

Yield vs. Enrollment Reach: Yield answers "of UC admits, what % chose UC?" — denominator is just the admits. A small admitted cohort can post a low yield even when the school sends a healthy share of its class to UC.

UC Enrollment Reach Score ⓘ

N/A

— enrollees / 46 seniors

Enrollment Reach vs. Yield: Reach answers "of the whole senior class, what share ended up at UC?" — denominator is everyone. High Yield with low Enrollment Reach is common at elite privates: most admits matriculate, but the school sends most of its class to non-UC selective colleges.

Student-Counselor Ratio ⓘ

Counseling here is unusually well-staffed — about 190 students per counselor, near what experts recommend.

190:1

0.84 FTE counselors · 160 students

In context: CA median 337:1 · 147 fewer students per counselor · ASCA target 250:1.

A-G Completion ⓘ

Only 1 in 5 graduates finish the courses UC and CSU require — below the state norm. Worth asking how course access and planning work here.

22%

10 of 46 graduates · 2024-25 cohort

In context: CA median 55.9% · -34.2 pp vs. median · San Luis Obispo Co. 44.0%.

Selective UC Reach (UCB, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, UCI — incl. the Elite two) ⓘ

N/A

Elite UC Reach (UCB + UCLA) ⓘ

N/A

Senior Class Size ⓘ

CDE grade 12 (exact)

Total School Enrollment ⓘ

159

All grades · CDE Census Day

Economic Connectedness ⓘ

1.21

64th percentile in CA · cross‑class friendships

Avg. Applicant GPA · top-6 UCs ⓘ

3.90

UC Outcomes Trend — 2018–2025

UC Admit Rate %

UC Reach Score (where available)

UC Admits (count, right axis)

Class size from CDE grade 12 enrollment. Campus-level data: applicant and admit totals count a student once at EACH campus. A senior admitted to UCLA and UC San Diego adds 2 to the admit total, so the total can exceed the senior class — that is the metric working as defined, not an error. The admit RATE is unaffected: both its numerator and denominator are campus-level.

Campus Breakdown — 2025

Campus	Applicants	Admits	Enrollees	Admit Rate	UC Reach Score	Yield	Avg GPA (App)	Avg GPA (Adm)
UCLA → Elite	5	—^†	—^†	—^†	—^†	—	3.95	—^†
UC San Diego → Selective	5	—^†	—^†	—^†	—^†	—	3.86	—^†

† = UCOP-suppressed (count below 3 students, hidden for privacy — actual value is 0, 1, or 2, not necessarily zero). Campus-level totals may count one student admitted to multiple UC campuses more than once; Admit Volume metrics are not the same as UC Reach, which is measured against the whole senior class. See methodology →

What This Means

Note: the UC Reach Score sums campus-level admits across the top-six UC campuses, so a student admitted to both UCLA and UCSD is counted at each. It reflects competitive admit volume relative to class size — admit-events, not distinct students — which is why a Score can exceed 100.

Compare with other schools → See San Luis Obispo County rankings →

For School Admins

The full Reach Report for Coast Union High School

A board- and LCAP-ready intelligence brief: your enrollment retention and college outcomes, benchmarked against your closest competitors, with a 5-year forecast, concrete steps to act on, and the rigor + outcomes story you can share with your families. Built from primary public data — prepared for you, not auto-generated.

✓Your 5-year enrollment forecast (currently -3.0%/yr) with the revenue at stake
✓Student-retention benchmarking vs your county median — and the LCAP evidence to back your goals

See a sample report →