University of California, Santa Barbara Facts for Kids

Quick facts for kids
University of California, Santa Barbara

Former names	Anna Blake School (1891–1909) Santa Barbara State Normal School (1909–1921) Santa Barbara State College (1921–1944) Santa Barbara College of the University of California (1944–1958)
Motto	Fiat lux (Latin)
Motto in English	'Let there be light'
Type	Public land-grant research university
Established	1891; 133 years ago (1891) (1944 as a UC campus)
Parent institution	University of California
Academic affiliations	AAU APRU URA Space-grant
Endowment	$403.8 million (2019)
Budget	$954 million (2019)
Chancellor	Henry T. Yang
Academic staff	2,749 (Fall 2018)
Students	26,314 (Fall 2019)
Undergraduates	23,349 (Fall 2019)
Postgraduates	2,965 (Fall 2019)
Location	Santa Barbara-Isla Vista , California , 93106 , United States 34°24′59″N 119°50′47″W / 34.41639°N 119.84639°W / 34.41639; -119.84639
Campus	Midsize Suburb, 1,127 acres (456 ha)
{{{free_label}}}	Quarter
Newspaper	Daily Nexus
Colors	Navy Gold
Nickname	Gauchos
Sporting affiliations	NCAA Division I – Big West MPSF GCC
Mascot	The Gaucho

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara-Isla Vista, California, with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021-2022. It is part of the University of California 10-university system. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers' college, UCSB joined the University of California system in 1944, and is the third-oldest undergraduate campus in the system, after UC Berkeley and UCLA.

Located on a WWII-era Marine air station, UC Santa Barbara is organized into three undergraduate colleges (College of Letters and Science, College of Engineering, College of Creative Studies) and two graduate schools (Gevirtz Graduate School of Education and Bren School of Environmental Science & Management), offering more than 200 degrees and programs. The university has 10 national research centers, including the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and the Center for Control, Dynamical-Systems and Computation. UCSB has various organized research units (ORUs) researching evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, marine science, and more. According to the National Science Foundation, UC Santa Barbara spent $235 million on research and development in fiscal year 2018, ranking it 100th in the nation. UCSB was the No. 3 host on the ARPAnet and was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1995.

Current UCSB faculty includes six Nobel Prize laureates, one Fields Medalist, 39 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 27 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and 34 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. UCSB is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and is regarded as a Public Ivy. The faculty also includes two Academy and Emmy Award winners, and recipients of a Millennium Technology Prize, an IEEE Medal of Honor, a National Medal of Technology and Innovation and a Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics.

Student demographics

*Ethnic Enrollment, Fall*
Ethnicity	2020 Undergraduate	2016 Undergraduate	2020 Graduate	2016 Graduate
Black	4.1%	4.2%	3.4%	1.8%
Asian	25.4%	24.9%	11.2%	10.5%
White	30.3%	33.4%	41.4%	46.5%
Hispanic and Latino	23.8%	25.5%	10.5%	8.7%
Native American	0.8%	0.9%	0.9%	1.1%
Unreported/unknown	2.6%	2.7%	2.6%	5.2%
International	12.9%	8.4%	30.1%	26.1%

2018-2019	Undergraduates	Graduate Students
American Indian/Alaskan	1%	1%
Black/African American	5%	4%
Chicano	23%	8%
Latino	7%	5%
Chicano/Latino Subtotal	30%	13%
Asian/Pacific Islander	21%	15%
Filipino	3%	1%
E. Indian/Pakistani	4%	3%
Asian/Pacific Islander Subtotal	28%	15%
Other	0%	0%
White	36%	64%
Unknown	1%	3%
International	12%	31%