CET - Santa Maria
Sign In
Settings
OverviewAdmissionsProgramsCostsOutcomesClassroomHousingServicesStudent BodySchool Finances
Overview
CET - Santa Maria is located in a midsized city with a population at least 100,000, but less than 250,000. It is in the Santa Maria-Santa Barbara CA area.
Highlights
Undergraduate program with the highest reported starting salary ($34K): Ground Transportation
Largest undergraduate program (68): Medical/Clinical Assistant
Address
509 W Morrison Ave
Santa Maria, CA 93458
www.cetweb.edu
Additional links
SOURCES:
Accreditation:
good
Institutional Control
CET - Santa Maria is a private not-for-profit organization and is related to other schools.
Share
Fewer details
Accreditation
Accreditation provides important oversight over a school's instructional practices and institutional stability.
CET - Santa Maria holds an accreditation from one of the national accreditors. Credits earned from the national accreditors are often not accepted by schools holding the more prestigious regional accreditation, and it's important to verify that your credits will transfer if you are considering an eventual switch to another school. Please read below for concerns we found in the accreditation records.
Accreditation History
Council on Occupational Education (Accredited June 4, 2011 - present)
  • The accreditation was recently renewed on June 10, 2021.
  • The next accreditation review was scheduled for December 31, 2023.
  • A prior accreditation probation was resolved on June 10, 2021, and we believe the school should now be in compliance.
  • A prior accreditation warning was resolved on February 19, 2017, and we believe the school should now be in compliance.
Western Association of Schools and Colleges, Accrediting Commission for Schools (Accredited July 1, 1996 - April 26, 2012)
Undergraduate Students
Not all students attend their first college full time to completion. While some schools are focused on those that population, many schools focus on transfer and or part time students. What types of of student does this school support.
SOURCES:
Admissions
Open Admissions
CET - Santa Maria is an open admissions school and accepts any student who applies.
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Admissions Details
Here are some important dates and little tidbits. Please double-check this information on the CET - Santa Maria's webpage for the most up-to-date and accurate answers! We update this information with each school's annual reporting, but information can change unexpectedly. Select any item to view the details.
Admissions Criteria & Qualifications
Admissions Criteria & Qualifications
Application Fee & Common App
Application Fee & Common App
CET - Santa Maria has an undergraduate application fee of $100. We did not find CET - Santa Maria on the Common Application site. Keep in mind that it never hurts to inquire with an Admissions office to see whether they might be willing to waive your application fee.
Credits accepted from new students
Credits accepted from new students
CET - Santa Maria accepts the following credits:
  • Open admission (school accepts any student who applies)
Programs
CET - Santa Maria program offerings
What award level are you pursuing?
1-2 Year Certificate
Select a degree to see the details, or use the sankey below to explore the options.
Select a degree
CET - Santa MariaMedical/Clinical Assistan...Business/Office Automatio...Building Construction Tec...Top 10 matching degrees
Health Support
Career
Costs
Current Program Costs

Schools report total costs for (up to) their six largest career-oriented programs. You can explore the costs by selecting the "+" symbol for programs that interest you. The average months to complete apply to full-time students. Additionally, if program length is reported in contact hours, then the time literally represents time with an instructor. Alternatively, credit hours approximate instructional time, but are not inclusive of total time spent by students in learning.

The cost details offer you comparisons to the costs of similar programs available in your context group. However, schools offering similar programs often have slightly different times to complete, and therefore we have grouped all programs that are 6 or fewer months, over 6 to 12 months, over 12 to 18 months, and more than 18 months. You can find the other schools offering this program using our school explorer.

You will find the most up-to-date information at this school's website for admissions.

Building Construction Technology (8 Months)
This program is CET - Santa Maria's 4th largest program. On average, students take 8 months of full-time study to complete the required 900 contact hours. This program is being compared to all Building Construction Technology certificate programs within the context schools that take longer than 6 months and up to a full year to complete.
Expense type
Tuition and fees
Amount
$12,954
Context: costs of similar programs
$12,954$12,000$14,000$16,000$18,000$20,000
Business/Office Automation/Technology/Data Entry (8 Months)
This program is CET - Santa Maria's 2nd largest program. On average, students take 8 months of full-time study to complete the required 900 contact hours. This program is being compared to all Business/Office Automation/Technology/Data Entry certificate programs within the context schools that take longer than 6 months and up to a full year to complete.
Expense type
Tuition and fees
Amount
$12,954
Context: costs of similar programs
$12,954$0$5,000$10,000$15,000$20,000
Medical/Clinical Assistant (8 Months)
This program is CET - Santa Maria's 1st largest program. On average, students take 8 months of full-time study to complete the required 900 contact hours. This program is being compared to all Medical/Clinical Assistant certificate programs within the context schools that take longer than 6 months and up to a full year to complete.
Expense type
Tuition and fees
Amount
$14,249
Context: costs of similar programs
$14,249$8,000$10,000$12,000$14,000$16,000$18,000$20,000
Truck and Bus Driver/Commercial Vehicle Operator and Instructor (6 Months)
This program is CET - Santa Maria's 3rd largest program. On average, students take 6 months of full-time study to complete the required 630 contact hours. This program is being compared to all Truck and Bus Driver/Commercial Vehicle Operator and Instructor certificate programs within the context schools that take 6 months or fewer to complete.
Expense type
Tuition and fees
Amount
$12,333
Context: costs of similar programs
$12,333$2,000$4,000$6,000$8,000$10,000$12,000$14,000
SOURCES:
Area living cost estimates
The following cost of living estimates apply to this school's largest program and should reflect the cost for an academic year. We would expect that these costs of living estimates would be uniform across programs, and we additionally recommend that you double-check the estimates through a different source. We found that schools have wildly different estimates of living expenses within the same areas.
Expense type
Miscellaneous costs when living off campus with family
Miscellaneous costs when living off campus without family
Off-campus room and board
Amount
$4,395
$4,395
$12,570
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Historic Costs by Program
You can explore the programs and corresponding lengths and costs offered over the past ten years using the drop-down menu below the graph. The programs only appear if they were one of the six largest programs offered that year. All dollar amounts have been adjusted for inflation.
Program and length
Building Construction Technology (8 months)
$0$5,000$10,000$15,0002010201120122013201420152016201720182019
Books and supplies
Tuition and fees
Not so much?
Net price: the best estimate for the cost to attend
Most schools publish tuition rates that give them room to offer both scholarships and financial aid where applicable. Your best estimate of what might pay is to see what others with similar family incomes have paid. A more tailored and accurate estimate is available at this school's net price calculator.
Understanding net price

With their net price calculators, many colleges and universities give an idea of what merit-based aid might accompany need-based aid. For schools that share such data, we also provide financial aid data in the Finanical Aid sections.

There are some caveats to consider when using the net price estimates:

  • The net price calculation is weighted by this school's proportion of students living on- and off-campus and this school's estimate of off-campus costs, which may cause the net price methodology be a bit inconsistent from school to school.
  • Parental income and student financial aid eligibility is sometimes more complicated than the simple family income number reported here.
  • The net price calculation for all students is inclusive of students who received any institutional or government aid, but at the family income levels the net price only considers the tuition paid by those who qualified for federal aid.

You can get a little better guess at what you would pay by using this school's net price calculator.

Percentage of students receiving any aid
The donut, based on 98 full-time first-time degree seeking students at CET - Santa Maria, shows the percentage of those who received any financial aid (including merit-based scholarships), subdivided by family income.
29%
Aid type and family income
Federal: $0-30K
Federal: $30K-48K
Federal: $48K-75K
Federal: $75K-110K
Federal: Above $110K
Only institutional
Net price by family income
All Incomes
Let's look over the past few years at what freshmen who received any financial aid actually paid for tuition, fees, books, and living expenses on average, and how that compares to the tuition usually paid for other private universities in your context group. Public universities only report net price for in-state students.
20112012201320142015201620172018$0$10,000$20,000$30,000$40,000$50,000
Chart explanation
CET - Santa Maria
On the blue curve, we see how the net annual cost to attend CET - Santa Maria has changed over the years.
Context Schools
The shading shows the spread of the net price for the context schools. The dark shading shows the middle 50% of context schools, and the light shading shows all but the smallest and largest 10%.
Customize your context group using the gear at the top of the page!
Find your net price estimate: cetweb.edu/tuition...
Outcomes
Graduation Rate
All undergraduate students are full-time. In the last reporting year, 80% of full-time first-time students received a degree within 150% of the expected time for completion.
80%
Time to complete
On time
50% more time
Context: Graduation rate
These numbers reflect the percentage of full-time first-time students who graduate with a 2-year degree or certificate within 3 years.
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Context and trends: Repayment Rate
How much progress do you think you'll be able to make towards paying down your college loans seven years after leaving school? In our research, we discovered that a surprisingly large number of students don't default on their loans, but also aren't making progress in paying down their principal amount. The percentages here count alumni who have decreased their loan amounts by at least $1.
Years after leaving school.
7
5
3
201320142015201620%40%60%80%100%Former students with decreased loan principal
Chart explanation
CET - Santa Maria
On the blue curve, we see the percentage of alumni from CET - Santa Maria who have successfully reduced their federal school loans by at least $1 by the date shown, which is 7 years after leaving the school.
Context Schools
The shading shows the spread of the loan repayment rate for the context schools. The dark shading shows the middle 50% of context schools, and the light shading shows all but the smallest and largest 10%.
Customize your context group using the gear at the top of the page!
Context and trends: are the loan default rates as small as possible?
The default rate is the percentage of students who are already delinquent on their loans within three years of leaving the school. If a school has a high default rate, that sends an alarm out that the students' educations are not sufficient to earn enough to repay those loans. Read below for details on the typical loan burden, and keep in mind that a low default rate may be more important than loan amounts in predicting your future success.
201420152016201720180%5%10%15%20%25%Former students with loan payment failure
Chart explanation
CET - Santa Maria
On the blue curve, we see the percentage of alumni from CET - Santa Maria who have defaulted on their federal school loans within 3 years ending on the date shown.
Context Schools
The shading shows the spread of the 3-year loan default rate for the context schools. The dark shading shows the middle 50% of context schools, and the light shading shows all but the smallest and largest 10%.
Customize your context group using the gear at the top of the page!
Loan burden
At CET - Santa Maria, 32% of full-time degree-seeking freshmen receive federal student loans, averaging $6,500 each in just the freshman year. We have much more details about the full loan burden students experience in our Cost and Financial Aid Section.
Context: Percentage of freshmen with federal loans
32%0%20%40%60%80%100%
Context: Average freshman federal loan amount
$6,500$2,000$4,000$6,000$8,000$10,000
Not so much?
Alumni earnings compared to same-aged Americans
The blue curve shows the earnings of this school's alumni -- so a high curve indicates this school is setting its students up for success!
More information about earnings data

How might your earnings compare with other people your age? Opportunity Insights used IRS data to track almost every person born in the US in the years 1980 to 1991, and they ranked the mean (average) 2014 earnings of students who attended CET - Santa Maria in comparison to all people in the US the same age. Although this data is now a little old, the scope of this project was awesome and gives us a glimpse at alumni performance that we cannot find until a new study of this incredible magnitude is performed.

You might notice a little earnings dip at young ages for some of the top bachelor's institutions. This coincides with the years that many alumni may be in graduate school and earning less.

232425262728293031323334Approximate former student age40506070Average earnings percentile
Chart explanation
CET - Santa Maria
In the blue curve, we see how the average earnings percentile for this school changes as its alumni age as compared to like-aged Americans without regard to their educational background.
Context Schools
The shading shows the spread of these average alumni earnings percentiles for context schools: dark shading shows the middle 50% of context schools and light shading shows all but the smallest and largest 10%.
Customize your context group using the gear at the top of the page!
Wealth mobility at CET - Santa Maria
We may wonder if, as a result of attending a given college, we will have a better chance for higher earnings. Opportunity Insights sought to answer this question by following the wealth story of every student for whom income information was available.
Learn more about the mobility study
How does wealth change after attendance?

Opportunity Insights studied groups of all children born in the US in the same year for each birth year from 1980 to 1991. This grouping included every single US child who had a valid SSN or ITIN (tax identification number) and could be linked to parents with non-negative income.

Family Income

The incomes of all families in a birth year group are measured when the child is 15-19 and these incomes are averaged. The calculated incomes from all families in the group were arranged from smallest to largest, and divided into five groups of equal size. On the left of the diagram, you can see the relative distribution of CET - Santa Maria's students between the family income divided into fifths formed by looking at the entire US group.

Individual Student Earnings

In 2014, all people from the same birth year were divided into a new set of five groups that were determined by their individual labor earnings for that year. The students from this birth year who primarily attended CET - Santa Maria between the ages of 19 and 22 were divided into these five groups, and the percent in each group is shown on the right of the diagram.

The diagram lets you see the proportion in each original income group who travel to each earnings group, and provides some insight into the likelihood of financial success after attendance.

If you'd like to understand the nitty gritty details of this interesting data, be sure to check out the well-written Opportunity Insights report by selecting SOURCES under the figure.

Below, we can see the percentage from each initial family wealth group who attend this college, and also the alumni's relative wealth later. Do students entering college from the bottom twenty percent of family income end up making it to a higher level? Do the top twenty percent stay at the top? Follow the colors, left to right, and see for yourself.
$24,300$45,100$72,900$110,300$900$18,500$35,200$55,800Lowest 20%Second-lowestMiddleSecond-highestHighest 20%Highest 20%Second-highestMiddleSecond-lowest Lowest 20%Family IncomeStudent Income
Classroom Experience
Student attention at CET - Santa Maria
Schools are required to report the ratio of students per instructor, but look for a small number of students for every full-time instructor as your best indicator of personal attention and a modern well-integrated curriculum.
16.4140204060Full-time inst.Any inst.
Fewer details
Full-time and long-term instructors at CET - Santa Maria
Full-time faculty are mostly likely to be on campus and available for interaction, and to craft up-to-date courses and programs. CET - Santa Maria has 100% full-time instructors, and 89% of the context schools have a lower percentage of full-time faculty. Faculty with multi-year contracts provide additional stability and commitment to the school and its students.Within the full-time instructors at CET - Santa Maria, none have multi-year employment contracts. Of the context schools, only 31% have instructors with multi-year contracts.
Full-time instructors
100%
Long-term instructors
0%
SOURCES:
Housing
No Student Housing Available
This school does not report any housing for students.
SOURCES:
Activities and Services
Undergraduate services offered
  • Remedial services
  • Academic/career counseling services
  • Employment services for current students
  • Placement services for program completers
SOURCES:
Programs for Veterans
If you are a veteran, it's worth digging around to find a military-friendly campus. We think this article about how colleges might help veterans might be a good starting point for questions to ask the Admissions office before you choose to attend. It's also good to be aware that many for-profit schools are behaving as predators, hungry for GI Bill dollars. Watching out for those schools is no different for veterans than for all students: judge very critically using our "Student Satisfaction and Success" tab for undergraduate programs. We wish we had the same data to support graduate programs; however, we think the undergraduate data is a good starting point for judging overall quality.
  • Credit for Military Training
SOURCES:
Student Body
Study Types
All students are full-time. No students take distance education courses.
Full-time
100%
Online classes
0%
SOURCES:
Context: Student body size
CET - Santa Maria enrolled 215 students over the past academic year. The the student body size is smaller than 70% of the context schools.
SOURCES:
Undergraduate student gender
Is the gender balance of CET - Santa Maria students important to you? You can see the breakdown in this donut chart.
Gender
Men
Women
SOURCES:
Undergraduate student race/origin
CET - Santa Maria reports that 97% of students are minority, which is more than 99% of the context schools. This school's 0 of international students is near the middle proportion of international students within the context schools.
Race/Origin
White
Hispanic
Multiracial
SOURCES:
Fewer details
Context: Gender Balance
It is very difficult for many types of schools to achieve a gender balance, and this context is valuable in evaluating the balance at CET - Santa Maria.
26%74%0%20%40%60%80%100%MenWomen
SOURCES:
Context: Percentage of women
With 74% women students, CET - Santa Maria has a higher percentage of women than 61% of context schools.
SOURCES:
Context: Student race/origin
Here is how CET - Santa Maria compares to the rest of the context group in terms of diversity in the student race and origin.
4%96%1%0%20%40%60%80%100%BlackPacific IslanderAsianAmerican IndianNot ReportedInternationalMultiracialWhiteHispanic
Freshman residences

A high proportion of international and out-of-state students speaks to reputation and offers an opportunity for diverse interactions in and out of class.

Freshman residence
In-state
Out-of-state
International
Not Reported
SOURCES:
Student age distribution
The age distribution at a school can tell you a lot about its mission. If you're looking for a traditional undergraduate experience, you may prefer to see students who are mostly younger than 25 (lighter shades), but if you want support as a returning student, a large number of students 25 and older (darker shades) may better suit your needs.
Age range
Under 18
18-19
20-21
22-24
25-29
30-34
35-39
40-49
50-64
SOURCES:
School Finances
CET - Santa Maria: What its budget can tell you about classroom quality
Where a school spends and collects its money can suggest a lot about the educational experience it offers. The tabs below offer a look at spending that is important for the quality of your experience if you attend.
Instructional spending
Context and trends: Instructional expenditures per student
Instructional expenses are primarily the salary and benefits paid to the heart of a school: its full-time instructors. High expenditures in this area suggest care in hiring enough highly qualified full-time faculty to provide personal attention and up-to-date subject-area excellence.
200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018$0$5,000$10,000$15,000
Chart explanation
CET - Santa Maria
On the blue curve, we see how the instructional expenses per student at CET - Santa Maria have changed over the years.
Context Schools
The shading shows the spread of the instructional expenses per student for the context schools. The dark shading shows the middle 50% of context schools, and the light shading shows all but the smallest and largest 10%.
All values have been adjusted for inflation. Customize your context group using the gear at the top of the page!
Fewer details
Does incoming revenue consistently cover expenses?

CET - Santa Maria is a private not-for-profit school. Along with publicly-controlled schools, not-for-profit schools do not have the goal of annual profit, but they do want to have healthy finances with adequate revenue to meet all expenses. On the other hand, private for-profit schools have creating a profit for shareholders as an annual goal.

Total revenue and expenses by category
We divided revenue and expenses for CET - Santa Maria into categories to give some insight to what may have influenced peaks and ditches in the chart above. The purple shades correspond most directly to student education. The blue shades, auxiliary expenses and revenue, are often related to room and board. We show investment gains and losses in apricot.
200720082009201020112012201320142015201620172018$0$1M$2M$3M$4MRevenue$0$1M$2M$3M$4MExpense
Investment gains
Tuition and fees revenue
Government appropriations etc.
Private and capital gifts
Other revenue
Instructional expenses
Institutional support expenses
Other expenses