American River College
About
American River College (ARC) is a public community college in unincorporated Sacramento, California. It is one of four colleges in the Los Rios Community College District and is part of the California Community Colleges System.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Pell recipients graduate at a higher rate than non-Pell students here — unusual and worth investigating.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 186 Title IV programs, 3 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 0 fail. 183 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing3 · 1.6%
- No Data183 · 98.4%
- Failing0 · 0.0%
Severity spectrum
Tiers band programs by how far graduate earnings sit above or below the benchmark, from Critical (below −15%) through Safe (above +25%). No data means earnings were privacy-suppressed.
Earnings premium gap
Graduate earnings versus the federal benchmark, worst gaps first.
Accreditation status & history
Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.
Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges
Programmatic accreditations · 1
Action history · 4
- Apr 2023Accreditation Reaffirmed: Probation RemovedAmerican Board of Funeral Service Education, Committee on Accreditation · Funeral Service Education (FUSER) - Institutions and programs awarding diplomas, associate degrees and bachelor's degrees
- Jan 2023Renewal of AccreditationAccrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges
- Apr 2022Probation or Equivalent or a More Severe Status: ProbationAmerican Board of Funeral Service Education, Committee on Accreditation · Funeral Service Education (FUSER) - Institutions and programs awarding diplomas, associate degrees and bachelor's degrees
- Oct 2018Renewal of AccreditationAmerican Board of Funeral Service Education, Committee on Accreditation · Funeral Service Education (FUSER) - Institutions and programs awarding diplomas, associate degrees and bachelor's degrees
Tuition & cost
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Net price by family income
Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 9,665 students received $37.5M in Pell grants, alongside $8.8M in federal Direct Loans.
Pell recipients · 5-year trend
Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25
Loan awards count each loan type a student holds, not unique borrowers; one student may carry several (e.g. subsidized and unsubsidized), so the per-type figures are the reliable detail.
Student loan default rate
The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.
Of 826 borrowers who entered repayment, 31 (3.7%) defaulted within three years — above the 2.3% national rate.
Default rate vs national, by cohort
* Cohorts 2020 and later read near 0% because the federal COVID-19 payment pause (CARES Act) suspended defaults nationwide. These years reflect a national policy, not institutional performance; the 2019 cohort is the last measured under normal repayment.
Academic programs at American River College
Top program areas ranked by completions.
Top program families by completions
Enrollment trends & demographics
Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.
Gender split
Race / ethnicity composition
Athletics & Title IX gender equity
How athletic participation, aid, and spending are split between men and women.
Men vs women · spending splits
Sport-by-sport · 12
Campus safety & crime statistics
Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.
3-year trend
Criminal offenses by type
By location
- On campus3
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
No hate crimes reported.
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
American River College vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions American River College selected for federal comparison reporting.
A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.
| Carnegie | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectAmerican River College | 37% | — | 30,462 | $4,628 | Community College |
Anne Arundel Community College | — | — | 11,481 | $15,929 | Community College |
Century College | — | — | 8,726 | $10,037 | Community College |
City Colleges of Chicago-Malcolm X College | — | — | 9,303 | $3,729 | Community College |
Cosumnes River College | — | — | 15,744 | $4,648 | Community College |
Davidson-Davie Community College | — | — | 4,305 | $7,258 | Community College |
De Anza College | — | — | 17,425 | $4,667 | Community College |
Erie Community College | — | — | 8,090 | $6,358 | Community College |
Fayetteville Technical Community College | — | — | 11,755 | $3,723 | Community College |
Fresno City College | — | — | 28,071 | $1,699 | Community College |
Hudson Valley Community College | — | — | 9,227 | $7,118 | Community College |
Iowa Central Community College | — | — | 4,949 | $9,601 | Community College |
John C Calhoun State Community College | — | — | 9,119 | $7,336 | Community College |
Johnston Community College | — | — | 5,371 | $3,946 | Community College |
Joliet Junior College | — | — | 14,414 | $5,741 | Community College |
Kilgore College | — | — | 7,198 | $6,629 | Community College |
Lehigh Carbon Community College | — | — | 6,221 | $9,568 | Community College |
Minneapolis Community and Technical College | — | — | 6,733 | $13,235 | Community College |
Montgomery County Community College | — | — | 9,278 | $9,930 | Community College |
New Mexico State University-Dona Ana | — | — | 7,200 | $4,621 | Community College |
Raritan Valley Community College | — | 98.6% | 6,762 | $6,613 | Community College |
Rochester Community and Technical College | — | — | 5,205 | $13,148 | Community College |
Saint Paul College | — | — | 5,198 | $12,040 | Community College |
San Jose City College | — | — | 8,609 | $16,658 | Community College |
Southern Maine Community College | — | — | 7,900 | $11,638 | Community College |
Tidewater Community College | — | — | 16,884 | $7,991 | Community College |
Trident Technical College | — | — | 13,552 | -$3,220 | Community College |
Victor Valley College | — | — | 8,423 | $3,228 | Community College |
Virginia Peninsula Community College | — | — | 6,410 | $6,468 | Community College |
Virginia Western Community College | — | — | 6,332 | $5,618 | Community College |
| Peer group median | 37% | 98.6% | 8,516 | $6,621 |
American River College Institutional Research office
The IR team responsible for the institution's federal reporting.
To provide a broad array of planning and decision support services to each of ARC's stakeholder groups, as well as to various external entities, facilitating the collection, analysis, and interpretation of institutional data to support planning and decision-making aimed at achieving ARC’s mission and strategic goals.
Visit IR office page- Brenda VallesDean of Institutional Effectiveness and Innovation
- Ryal StromAdministrative Assistant
- Yuj ShimizuFaculty Research Coordinator
- Jonathan NewnamIT Business Analyst
- Diana LopezResearch Analyst
- Juan AguilarResearch Analyst
Reports & documents (2)
Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.
Grants & funding (8)
Federal grant awards and open funding opportunities awarded to this institution.
- opportunityStudent Success Completion Grant (SSCG)California Community Collegesinstitution_site$8,000
- opportunityCal Grant ACalifornia Student Aid Commissioninstitution_site
- opportunityCal Grant BCalifornia Student Aid Commissioninstitution_site
- opportunityCal Grant CCalifornia Student Aid Commissioninstitution_site
- opportunityCalifornia College Promise GrantCalifornia Community Collegesinstitution_site
- opportunityChafee Grant for Foster YouthState of Californiainstitution_site
- opportunityFederal Pell GrantFederal Governmentinstitution_site
- opportunityFederal Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grant (FSEOG)Federal Governmentinstitution_site
Notable alumni of American River College (13)
A curated list of alumni recognized for notable achievements across industries.
- Jen Allred
- Ken Balcomb
- Lloyd Connelly
- Jenny Dearborn
- Pam Mark Hall
- Wally Herger
- Jed JohnsonInterior Design
- Adrian LamoComputer Hacking
- Jim McClarin
- Edward C. Noonan
- Anthony SwoffordLiterature
- Ralph Watkins
Frequently asked questions about American River College
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about American River College.
What is the graduation rate at American River College?
How many students attend American River College?
What is the average net price at American River College?
Where is American River College located?
Who runs Institutional Research at American River College?
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