College Viability Inspection Report

Bakersfield College

California · Public

Bakersfield College is a public institution in California, enrolling 17,204 students as of 2024. It graduates 0% of students in four years and costs an average of $16,637 a year after grants and scholarships. Of the 5 inspection checks that could be evaluated, 2 are flagged: Endowment and Tuition Allocation. This report benchmarks Bakersfield College's most recent reported year (2024) against 2,000+ U.S. colleges across three dimensions: student outcomes, financial health, and value for money. All figures are drawn from federal IPEDS filings and are reported without editorial judgment.

Data note: The U.S. Department of Education's IPEDS database did not include every reported figure for Bakersfield College between 2020 and 2024. 5 indicators have IPEDS data missing for one or more years 2020–2024 and 4 inspection flags could not be evaluated for lack of data — affected indicators are tagged below; missing years are shown as gaps in trend charts rather than estimated.

Bakersfield College Inspection Flags

Student Outcomes
Financial Health
Value for Your Money

Inspection flags are nine independent checks across student outcomes, financial health, and cost-to-value that surface areas of a college's reported numbers worth a closer look. A triggered flag means the college's data met a specific threshold that students and families may want to ask about — for example, graduation rates slipping below a level, or tuition rising while outcomes decline. A clear flag means the threshold was not met. Flags are signals for further conversation, not verdicts.

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College Viability
Data Summary

Bakersfield College — All Reported Indicators

Plain-text reference table of every metric and inspection flag for Bakersfield College. Values reflect IPEDS-reported figures; percent changes reflect endpoint-to-endpoint 2020 → 2024 comparison; percentiles reflect 2024 national rank against four-year public and private nonprofit institutions. Cells marked "not reported" indicate the indicator was not present in IPEDS for this institution.

Student Outcomes

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Four-Year Graduation Rate0.0%not reported0th
Six-Year Graduation Rate0.0%not reported0th
Full-Time Retention Ratenot reportednot reportednot reported
Pell Grant Six-Year Graduation Rate100.0%not reported98th
Pell-to-Non-Pell Graduation Gap-66.7ppnot reported1st
Pell Share of Cohort25.0%not reported23rd

Financial Health

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Revenue-to-Expense Ratio1.15×+8.0%68th
Total FTE Enrollment17,204+12.6%94th
Endowment Value$14.9M+18.0%25th
Net Assets (End of Year)$388.0M+514.8%80th

Value for Money

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Instructional Spending %34.6%+77.4%55th
Student Support Spending %7.1%+43.9%23rd
Administrative Spending %16.6%+52.0%43rd
Instruction+Support to Admin Ratio2.52×+12.3%44th
Average Net Price$16,637+140.1%40th
Net Price: $0-30K Income$14,493+185.1%53rd
Net Price: $30K-48K Income$14,538+197.5%52nd
Net Price: $48-75K Income$15,011+93.8%42nd
Net Price: $75K-110K Income$17,746+67.8%35th
Net Price: $110K+ Incomenot reportednot reportednot reported

Inspection Flags

FlagSectionStatus
Retention Below 80%
Not enough reported data for this flag — only 1 of 5 years available.
Student OutcomesNot Evaluated
Four-Year Graduation Rate Below 50%
Not enough reported data for this flag — only 1 of 5 years available.
Student OutcomesNot Evaluated
Pell Gap Exceeds 10 Points
Not enough reported data for this flag — only 0 of 5 years had a Pell cohort of 50+ students.
Student OutcomesNot Evaluated
Revenue-to-Expense Below 1.0
Bakersfield College's ratio stayed at or above 1.0 in all 5 reported years — ending at 1.15× in 2024.
Financial HealthCleared
Enrollment Declined 5% or More
Bakersfield College's total enrollment grew from 15,275 to 17,204 students between 2020 and 2024 (+12.6%).
Financial HealthCleared
Endowment Under $50M or Growth Under 15%
Bakersfield College's endowment is $14.9M, under the $50 million threshold. A smaller endowment leaves less cushion for scholarships and for tough budget years, even though it grew +18.0% over the period.
Financial HealthTriggered
High Cost, Low Completion
Bakersfield College costs less than the national median AND graduates students at below-median rates — only one of two conditions is met.
Value for MoneyCleared
Spending on Students Below the National Median
Bakersfield College spends $2.52 on instruction and student support per $1 of admin (2024) — below the national median of $2.75 in 5 of 5 reported years.
Value for MoneyTriggered
Rising Price, Falling Outcomes
Endpoint data missing for either net price or graduation rate — flag could not be evaluated.
Value for MoneyNot Evaluated