Laney College vs UC Merced

Laney College and University of California-Merced, two distinct institutions of higher learning, offer unique educational experiences tailored to different academic aspirations. Laney College, a community college located in Oakland, California, boasts an open admissions policy, welcoming students from all backgrounds. In contrast, University of California-Merced, a public research university, employs a selective admissions process, resulting in a lower acceptance rate. While Laney College excels in providing vocational training and associate degrees, UC-Merced offers a comprehensive range of undergraduate and graduate programs, including doctoral degrees. Explore the detailed comparison table below to delve into further distinctions between these institutions, encompassing acceptance rates, popular majors, student body demographics, and graduation rates, to ascertain the institution that best aligns with your academic goals and preferences.

	Laney College	University of California-Merced
Overview
Location	Oakland, California	Merced, California
Campus setting	City: Large	Rural: Fringe
College type	2 year	4 year
Control/business model	Public	Public
Calendar system	Semester	Semester
Degrees offered	Undergraduate	Undergraduate and Graduate
Students retention rate	63.0%	79.0%
Common app member	No	No
Religious affiliation

Admission
Acceptance rate	Open Admission	86.6%
Application fees		Undergraduate: $70 Graduate: $120
SAT range	N/A	N/A
ACT range	N/A	N/A
Students submitting SAT score
Students submitting ACT score
Total number of applicants		27,793
Total number of admissions given out		24,068
Admitted students who chose to enroll		2,410
Yield rate		10.0%
Test scores (SAT/ACT)	Not required	N/A
High school GPA	N/A	Required
Recommendation letters	N/A	Not required
High school transcript	N/A	Not required
English proficiency test (e.g. TOEFL)	N/A	Required

Tuition and Fees
Sticker price	In state: $31,734 Out of state: $39,270	In state: $28,870 Out of state: $58,624
Average net price	$16,494	$11,586
Tuition	In state: $1,104 Out of state: $8,472	In state: $11,442 Out of state: $41,196
Room & board		$18,901
Available payment plans	Tuition payment plan	Tuition payment plan

Financial Aid
Students receiving financial aid (Grants & scholarships)	59.0% Average amount $5,615	92.0% Average amount $21,623
Students receiving federal student loan	1.0% Average amount $9,404	18.0% Average amount $4,470
Students taking out private loans	0.0% Average amount $0	1.0% Average amount $2,687

Students and Campus
Undergraduate students	8,168 Men 46.7% Women 53.3%	8,321 Men 47.7% Women 52.3%
Graduate students	N/A	772 Men 55.8% Women 44.2%
Racial/ethnic diversity	Moderate	Low
Out-of-state students	8.1%	0.2%
International students	2.7%	8.7%
Campus local/setting	City: Large	Rural: Fringe
Dormitory capacity	N/A	3,634
First year students are required to live on campus?	N/A	No
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from	California	California Alaska Idaho Missouri Texas

Academics
Popular study areas	Social Sciences Liberal Arts Business Biological and Biomedical Sciences Culinary and Personal Services	Engineering Physical Science Social Sciences English Language and Literature Psychology
Students to faculty ratio	22:1	19:1
Institutional accreditation	Western Association of Schools and Colleges Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges	Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior Colleges and University Commission

Outcome
Graduation rate	23.8%	71.6%
Dropout rate	53.7%	5.0%
Transferred out	8.4%	22.6%
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)	N/A	Computer Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $54,675 Year 2: $55,286 Year 3: $68,164 Mechanical Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $55,936 Year 2: $51,392 Year 3: $67,761 Economics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $30,771 Year 2: $43,000 Year 3: $57,642 Biomedical/Medical Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $38,420 Year 2: $39,729 Year 3: $53,045 Business Administration, Management and Operations (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $41,245 Year 2: $41,937 Year 3: $50,288 Applied Mathematics (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $32,755 Year 2: N/A Year 3: $49,047 Environmental/Environmental Health Engineering (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $40,917 Year 2: $38,721 Year 3: $47,958 Biology, General (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $29,685 Year 2: $31,391 Year 3: $43,274 Chemistry (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $37,397 Year 2: $29,685 Year 3: $42,368 Cognitive Science (Bachelor's Degrees) Year 1: $27,909 Year 2: $28,960 Year 3: $40,928

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Laney College vs UC Merced

Laney College

University of California-Merced

Overview

Admission

Tuition and Fees

Financial Aid

Students and Campus

Academics

Outcome

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