Which UC Santa Barbara major has the lowest debt?

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology graduates leave with a median of $9,500 in federal loans, the lowest among 35 UC Santa Barbara bachelor's programs that report debt.

How much does UC Santa Barbara cost?

In-state tuition and fees are $16,414 a year, and $50,614 for out-of-state students. After grants and scholarships, the average net price is $16,109 a year.

How many UC Santa Barbara programs report graduate pay?

36 bachelor's programs at UC Santa Barbara report first-year pay, and 35 of them also report federal debt.

UC Santa Barbara Programs, Ranked by Graduate Pay and Debt

University of California-Santa Barbara
Public university
Santa Barbara, CA
23,113 undergraduates

College Scorecard June 2026 release

The short answer

36 UC Santa Barbara bachelor's programs report what graduates earn. Computer Science pays the most in the first year ($107,776), and Religious Studies the least ($19,911). The median program pays $37,516.

In-state tuition and fees$16,414Per year. Out-of-state $50,614

Average net price after aid$16,109Per year

Graduation rate83%Within 6 years

Admission rate33%Of applicants

All 36 bachelor's programs, ranked

Each figure is the median for the program's graduates. "Rank in California" compares first-year pay with the same field's bachelor's programs across California. Programs that don't report a figure are listed last when you sort by it.

#	Program	Year 1 pay	Year 5 pay	Debt	Rank in California
1	Computer ScienceAbout 162 graduates a year	$107,776	$145,485	$11,000	9th of 39
2	Computer EngineeringAbout 58 graduates a year	$91,387	$139,942	$14,410	5th of 19
3	Mechanical EngineeringAbout 82 graduates a year	$81,108	$100,669	$15,908	6th of 26
4	Chemical EngineeringAbout 41 graduates a year	$79,737	$104,039	$14,937	2nd of 10
5	EconomicsAbout 696 graduates a year	$66,334	$107,948	$13,516	7th of 35
6	Management ScienceAbout 47 graduates a year	$66,099	$98,845	$11,128	1st of 6
7	Applied MathematicsAbout 184 graduates a year	$59,638	$109,292	$17,000	4th of 8
8	StatisticsAbout 355 graduates a year	$55,110	$110,783	$17,500	4th of 7
9	PhysicsAbout 183 graduates a year	$53,597	$104,149	$15,982	5th of 11
10	Biochemistry and Molecular BiologyAbout 74 graduates a year	$49,100	$90,796	$9,500	4th of 19
11	ChemistryAbout 114 graduates a year	$47,197	$79,458	$15,805	5th of 23
12	CommunicationsAbout 620 graduates a year	$46,598	$73,857	$13,018	5th of 39
13	MathematicsAbout 123 graduates a year	$46,447	$75,626	$17,000	5th of 23
14	MicrobiologyAbout 49 graduates a year	$42,634	Not reported	$16,500	11th of 13
15	Pharmacology and ToxicologyAbout 62 graduates a year	$39,421	$97,773	$14,500	1st of 2
16	Political ScienceAbout 322 graduates a year	$39,404	$73,638	$16,485	12th of 44
17	Cell Biology and AnatomyAbout 49 graduates a year	$38,333	$57,001	$19,000	6th of 10
18	ZoologyAbout 26 graduates a year	$37,633	$53,012	Not reported	2nd of 3
19	GeographyAbout 81 graduates a year	$37,398	$64,880	$13,750	5th of 13
20	Romance LanguagesAbout 60 graduates a year	$35,635	$60,275	$16,261	7th of 23
21	Experimental PsychologyAbout 650 graduates a year	$34,431	$66,321	$15,000	2nd of 8
22	SociologyAbout 692 graduates a year	$34,372	$59,183	$13,500	23rd of 42
23	Environmental Science and ConservationAbout 338 graduates a year	$33,759	$66,752	$16,533	15th of 24
24	International StudiesAbout 143 graduates a year	$33,553	$65,890	$14,792	6th of 9
25	BiologyAbout 391 graduates a year	$33,486	$76,068	$14,586	24th of 47
26	Ethnic, Cultural, and Gender StudiesAbout 95 graduates a year	$32,341	$58,175	$13,500	7th of 21
27	AnthropologyAbout 121 graduates a year	$31,420	$58,077	$19,500	4th of 22
28	Geology and Earth ScienceAbout 54 graduates a year	$30,759	$71,720	$21,800	8th of 10
29	HistoryAbout 159 graduates a year	$29,749	$57,621	$14,500	13th of 30
30	Ecology and EvolutionAbout 83 graduates a year	$29,258	$49,625	$12,500	8th of 10
31	Film and PhotographyAbout 174 graduates a year	$28,608	$52,687	$15,000	7th of 25
32	Linguistics and Language StudiesAbout 125 graduates a year	$27,629	$52,393	$14,100	2nd of 12
33	PhilosophyAbout 108 graduates a year	$25,303	$65,351	$15,000	10th of 15
34	EnglishAbout 184 graduates a year	$24,099	$58,240	$17,550	22nd of 35
35	TheatreAbout 33 graduates a year	$20,503	Not reported	$16,852	13th of 23
36	Religious StudiesAbout 20 graduates a year	$19,911	Not reported	$15,873	3rd of 4

Program names link to the program's own page, and California ranks link to the full ranking for the field. A program gets its own page when it reports both pay and debt and at least five California programs in the field do too.

3 more bachelor's programs report debt but not pay, so they aren't listed.

Quick picks

Highest first-year pay

Lowest median debt

Biochemistry and Molecular Biology$9,500
Computer Science$11,000
Management Science$11,128
Ecology and Evolution$12,500
Communications$13,018

Largest programs

EconomicsAbout 696 graduates a year
SociologyAbout 692 graduates a year
Experimental PsychologyAbout 650 graduates a year
CommunicationsAbout 620 graduates a year
BiologyAbout 391 graduates a year

Common questions

Computer Science graduates earn a median of $107,776 in their first year, the most of 36 UC Santa Barbara bachelor's programs that report pay.

About this data

Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid, and earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school.
Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
Tuition, net price, graduation rate, and admission rate are for the whole school, not one program.
Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of California rankings when their main campus is in another state.
Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago.

Sources

U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
NCES, IPEDS tuition and fees, 2023-24, for in-district tuition labels