Santa Clara, CA · Private · Every figure is for a student starting in fall 2027. We work each one out again whenever we update the site.
How to pay for Santa Clara University
What a year costs here, what brings it down, and what a SmartTuition plan could save a family like yours.
Paying for four years here
Four years here, after grants
$194,351
A SmartTuition plan could save a family like this about $13,000.
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester, using your own numbers.
Build your SmartTuition plan for Santa Clara University, $99 →Best once your award letter arrives. No letter yet? Get the monthly email.
A family of four with good credit and $500 a month for college. How we worked these out ↓
A year at Santa Clara University
| Full price | $90,620 |
| After grants, at your income | $43,004 |
71% of first-year students here got a grant or scholarship from the college in 2023-24, $25,696 on average.
At this income, 59 of California's other 64 colleges cost less after grants, and 5 cost more. See them all →
What can bring it down
Merit scholarships. Merit awards for first-year students, reviewed at admission with no separate application. The Presidential at Entry Scholarship pays full tuition and renews with a 3.5 GPA. The Provost Scholarship pays half tuition, and the Dean's Scholarship varies. Both renew with a 3.0 GPA.
Santa Clara University's promise. Santa Clara Promise: the full gap between its costs and what the family can pay, for California first-years with family income of $150,000 or less, from fall 2027. The conditions ↓
Pay less for college
A SmartTuition plan shows what to pay from where, each semester.
At Santa Clara University, our scenarios for California households with good parent credit show a SmartTuition plan saving a median of about $6,800 over four years. How we worked this out ↓
Considering more than one college?
Put the schools you are considering on one list and we price each of them for your family. It is free. It asks what you earn and what you have saved, never your name.
Put your schools side by side →Merit scholarships
What Santa Clara University says it awards for grades and test scores.
Merit awards for first-year students, reviewed at admission with no separate application. The Presidential at Entry Scholarship pays full tuition and renews with a 3.5 GPA. The Provost Scholarship pays half tuition, and the Dean's Scholarship varies. Both renew with a 3.0 GPA.
Published guarantees you may qualify for
We do not assume you qualify for any of these, and our plans never bank on them. Check each against your own situation with the aid office.
Santa Clara Promise: the full gap between its costs and what the family can pay, for California first-years with family income of $150,000 or less, from fall 2027
Household income up to $150,000. Covers tuition, fees, housing, food. Also requires “typical assets” — a test we cannot evaluate for you.
- Aid covers tuition, fees, housing and food beyond the family's expected contribution from the CSS Profile, and it renews every year.
- Graduates of any Cristo Rey Network high school, in any state, get the same: all of the gap is met.
“Beginning in fall 2027, admitted California first-year students whose family income is $150,000 or less, with typical assets, receive aid that covers 100% of their demonstrated need for tuition, fees, housing, and food after the Expected Family Contribution, also known as EFC on the CSS Profile. Includes the Cristo Rey Promise: graduates of any Cristo Rey Network high school, in any state, have 100% of demonstrated need met.”
How we worked these out
The family
A family of four with good parent credit and $500 a month to put toward college, and the savings you pick. In state, the grants are what Santa Clara University reports families at that income got, on average. Your own will differ, and a family with no aid pays close to the full price.
What a SmartTuition plan saves
The difference, over four years, between a SmartTuition plan and the standard approach: savings first, then loans for the rest. It counts loan interest and the federal tax credit.
The $6,800 in the “Pay less for college” box near the top of this page is the median saving in Santa Clara University's own scenarios. Each scenario is a household that lives in California, with an income from $45,000 to $200,000 and savings of none, $40,000 or $100,000 in a 529. We price Santa Clara University at the aid it reports for that income.
Every scenario has parents with good credit and $500 a month toward college. The card above uses the same two. A scenario where the parents would borrow more than $65,000 is left out.
The prices by income
- They describe students who got aid.
- “Over $110,000” has no upper limit, so it averages families just over $110,000 with far wealthier ones. A family at $115,000 should expect to pay less than it shows.
- Each range is reported on its own, so the prices do not always rise with income.
Grants from the college
How many first-year students got a grant from Santa Clara University, and the average, are the Department of Education's figures for full-time students who started in 2023-24. They cover every income. The prices after grants already count these grants, so don't take them off again. The Department of Education's page for Santa Clara University →
Where the prices come from
Where the prices come from: Santa Clara University's own 2026-27 tuition, fees, housing, food and books, from its website, carried forward to 2027 at 4.0% a year. The grants are the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard (2025-26 figures), carried forward the same way. Each price after grants is the cost less those grants. The average price after grants counts the students who get federal aid. Your own figure will be different.
Santa Clara University's own budget for 2026-27 is $92,556. It also counts costs the university doesn't bill for, such as travel and personal spending. We leave those out.
SmartTuition.ai is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Santa Clara University. Aid policies change; check current terms with the college's aid office.
Nearby at your income
- Pitzer College$37,485 a year
- Claremont McKenna College$39,327 a year
- Santa Clara University$43,004 a year
- Pepperdine University$43,636 a year
- Chapman University$46,797 a year
What each college charges, less the average grant for your income. Every California college →