Merritt College
About
Merritt College is a public community college in Oakland, California, United States. Merritt, like the other three campuses of the Peralta Community College District, is accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges. The college enrolls approximately 6,000 students.
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 65 Title IV programs, 3 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 0 fail. 62 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing3 · 4.6%
- No Data62 · 95.4%
- 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 · 2
Action history · 17
- Nov 2025Probation or Equivalent or a More Severe Status: ProbationJoint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology · Radiologic Technology (RAD) - Programs for radiographers
- Apr 2025Renewal of AccreditationJoint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology · Radiologic Technology (RAD) - Programs for radiographers
- Jan 2025Renewal of AccreditationJoint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology · Radiologic Technology (RAD) - Programs for radiographers
- Aug 2024Renewal of AccreditationJoint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology · Radiologic Technology (RAD) - Programs for radiographers
- Jul 2024Renewal of AccreditationAcademy of Nutrition and Dietetics, Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics · Dietetics (DIETT) - Dietetic Technician Program
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, 1,256 students received $5.1M in Pell grants, alongside $515K 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 93 borrowers who entered repayment, 5 (5.3%) 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 Merritt 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 · 3
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 campus2
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.
Merritt College vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Merritt 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 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectMerritt College | 26% | — | 7,022 | $14,742 | Community College |
Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College | — | — | 6,510 | $12,851 | Community College |
Central Carolina Community College | — | — | 5,882 | $616 | Community College |
Central Texas College | — | — | 8,373 | $6,408 | Community College |
City Colleges of Chicago-Richard J Daley College | — | — | 6,296 | $3,166 | Community College |
College of Marin | — | — | 4,838 | $15,517 | Community College |
Columbus State Community College | — | — | 28,081 | $7,233 | Community College |
Cuyahoga Community College District | — | — | 17,840 | $4,538 | Community College |
Des Moines Area Community College | — | — | 23,697 | $11,050 | Community College |
Durham Technical Community College | — | — | 5,157 | $1,183 | Community College |
Eastern Arizona College | — | — | 5,213 | $9,765 | Community College |
Eastern Iowa Community College District | — | — | 7,426 | $9,722 | Community College |
Elizabethtown Community and Technical College | — | — | 6,420 | $5,594 | Community College |
Hutchinson Community College | — | — | 5,119 | $5,300 | Community College |
Iowa Western Community College | — | — | 5,540 | $11,574 | Community College |
Ivy Tech Community College | — | — | 110,710 | $6,544 | Community College |
Jefferson Community and Technical College | — | — | 13,429 | $6,058 | Community College |
Kapiolani Community College | — | — | 5,914 | $5,194 | Community College |
Laney College | — | — | 9,328 | $15,805 | Community College |
Laurel Ridge Community College | — | — | 5,902 | $5,586 | Community College |
Lincoln Land Community College | — | — | 5,677 | $5,294 | Community College |
Metropolitan Community College Area | — | — | 16,642 | $4,005 | Community College |
Monroe Community College | — | — | 8,641 | $6,569 | Community College |
Moraine Valley Community College | — | — | 11,296 | $1,771 | Community College |
North Central Texas College | — | — | 8,106 | $6,714 | Community College |
Owens Community College | — | — | 7,854 | $10,202 | Community College |
Parkland College | — | — | 6,014 | $8,271 | Community College |
Pitt Community College | — | — | 7,684 | $7,150 | Community College |
Rock Valley College | — | — | 5,978 | $7,325 | Community College |
Rowan-Cabarrus Community College | — | — | 7,028 | $4,842 | Community College |
Southwestern Illinois College | — | — | 8,492 | $7,210 | Community College |
St Philip's College | — | — | 17,299 | $4,873 | Community College |
Triton College | — | — | 9,842 | $4,427 | Community College |
Waubonsee Community College | — | — | 8,305 | $6,113 | Community College |
| Peer group median | 26% | — | 7,555 | $6,476 |
Merritt College Institutional Research office
The IR team responsible for the institution's federal reporting.
It is the mission of the Office of Planning, Research & Institutional Effectiveness (PRIE) to provide data, information, and analyses to Merritt College in support of institutional decision making, planning and evaluation of services provided to the students and community.
Visit IR office page- Nathan PellegrinDirector of Research & Planning
Reports & documents (1)
Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.
Notable alumni of Merritt College (8)
A curated list of alumni recognized for notable achievements across industries.
- Saundra Brown ArmstrongLaw
- John Bailey (American actor)Entertainment
- Elbert HowardActivism
- Grady LivingstonPolitics
- Marvin XLiterature
- Master PMusic
- Patricia Rodriguez (artist)Art
- Sheng ThaoPolitics
Frequently asked questions about Merritt College
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Merritt College.
What is the graduation rate at Merritt College?
How many students attend Merritt College?
What is the average net price at Merritt College?
Where is Merritt College located?
Who runs Institutional Research at Merritt College?
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