About
Merced College, founded in 1962, is a public community college located in Merced, California. The college serves approximately 18,673 students and offers 87 associate degree programs and 82 certificate programs, focusing on education, workforce training, and career-oriented programs.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 111 Title IV programs, 7 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 0 fail. 104 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing7 · 6.3%
- No Data104 · 93.7%
- 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.
Near the line (±5%)
Programs within five points of the pass line, one cohort year from flipping.
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 · 6
- Jun 2024Renewal of AccreditationAccrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges
- Jul 2022Renewal of AccreditationJoint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology · Radiologic Technology (RAD) - Programs for radiographers
- Jan 2019Renewal of AccreditationAccrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges
- Jan 2019Renewal of AccreditationAccrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges
- Feb 2018Renewal of AccreditationJoint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology · Radiologic Technology (RAD) - Programs for radiographers
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, 6,555 students received $31.0M in Pell grants, alongside $848K 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 0 borrowers who entered repayment, 0 (0.0%) defaulted within three years — below the 13.2% 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 Merced 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 · 9
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 campus1
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.
Merced College vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Merced 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 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectMerced College | 36% | — | 12,472 | $4,260 | Community College |
Bergen Community College | — | — | 11,720 | $9,376 | Community College |
Blinn College District | — | — | 18,095 | $17,225 | Community College |
Cerritos College | — | — | 21,859 | $693 | Community College |
Chaffey College | — | — | 22,460 | $5,743 | Community College |
Citrus College | — | — | 10,429 | $3,800 | Community College |
College of the Sequoias | — | — | 14,494 | $29 | Community College |
Community College of Philadelphia | — | — | 12,926 | $13,306 | Community College |
Community College of Rhode Island | — | — | 12,275 | $5,240 | Community College |
CUNY Borough of Manhattan Community College | — | — | 20,123 | $4,907 | Community College |
CUNY LaGuardia Community College | — | — | 14,494 | $5,699 | Community College |
Diablo Valley College | — | — | 17,228 | $6,142 | Community College |
El Camino Community College District | — | — | 21,664 | $5,170 | Community College |
El Paso Community College | — | — | 25,567 | $4,154 | Community College |
Fullerton College | — | — | 19,521 | $8,090 | Community College |
Georgia State University-Perimeter College | — | 90.8% | 17,437 | $10,102 | Community College |
Glendale Community College | — | — | 12,075 | $7,461 | Community College |
Grossmont College | — | — | 14,440 | $2,755 | Community College |
Long Beach City College | — | — | 24,985 | $5,001 | Community College |
Metropolitan Community College-Kansas City | — | — | 13,523 | $8,165 | Community College |
Moorpark College | — | — | 14,583 | $742 | Community College |
Nassau Community College | — | — | 12,301 | $5,736 | Community College |
Orange Coast College | — | — | 17,096 | $4,754 | Community College |
Pasadena City College | — | — | 24,597 | $3,123 | Community College |
Riverside City College | — | — | 21,730 | $4,026 | Community College |
Santa Barbara City College | — | — | 12,334 | $10,029 | Community College |
Southwestern College | — | — | 20,986 | $10,893 | Community College |
Suffolk County Community College | — | — | 19,973 | $4,882 | Community College |
Tarrant County College District | — | — | 43,928 | $6,073 | Community College |
Wake Technical Community College | — | — | 24,609 | $6,935 | Community College |
| Peer group median | 36% | 90.8% | 17,333 | $5,470 |
Merced College Institutional Research office
The IR team responsible for the institution's federal reporting.
The page for Irma Olvera at Merced College includes her contact email and title as Custodian. It primarily provides links to various sections and resources of Merced College's website, but does not detail information specific to the Office of Institutional Research.
Visit IR office page- Irma OlveraCustodian
Reports & documents (1)
Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.
Notable alumni of Merced College (8)
A curated list of alumni recognized for notable achievements across industries.
- Brad ArnsbergAthletics
- Marvin EastmanAthletics
- Duke FergersonAthletics
- Bradin HagensAthletics
- Lavar JohnsonAthletics
- Brad LesleyAthletics
- Bill MooneyhamAthletics
- Jerry PenderAthletics
Frequently asked questions about Merced College
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Merced College.
What is the graduation rate at Merced College?
How many students attend Merced College?
What is the average net price at Merced College?
Where is Merced College located?
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