Academy of
Art University
For-profit College in San Francisco, CA. Six-year graduation rate 35%. Median 10-year earnings $39,008.
Ten-year median earnings of $39,008 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. The six-year graduation rate is 35% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Graduates leave owing a median of $31,000 — a substantial load to service on these earnings.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Debt-to-income ratio 0.79 — elevated (above 0.60)
- ! Graduation rate 35% — below national average
Academics
Only 35% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential. 75% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in four are gone before sophomore year. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. 22% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. Retention drops to 42% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,131 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay $36,761 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($37,668 versus $44,082), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. 58% of students receive grant aid, averaging $14,243 — common but not automatic. Federal borrowing reaches 50% of students.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 202 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $37,668 |
| $30–48k | $36,340 |
| $48–75k | $43,874 |
| $75–110k | $43,953 |
| $110k+ | $44,082 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,074 of these 4,131 students, totalling $15,325,775 — an average of $7,389 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (San Francisco County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)