American College
of the Building Arts
Private College in Charleston, SC. Six-year graduation rate 62%.
The six-year graduation rate is 62%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Median debt at graduation is $12,500, a light load against those earnings.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Selectivity is real here: only 44% of applicants are offered a place. Only 126 students applied, so treat these rates as directional — small pools swing sharply between cycles. 95% of admitted students actually enroll, which is a high yield by national standards. The score bands below rest on the 43% of enrolled first-years who submitted an SAT score — a self-selected group, and not a cutoff.
Test score bands (middle 50% of submitters)
These bands describe the enrolled first-years who submitted a score, not the entering class. Where most students apply test-optional the submitters are a self-selected, higher-scoring group.
| Test | 25th–75th percentile | Submitted |
|---|---|---|
| SAT Evidence-Based Reading | 560–640 | 23 (43%) |
| SAT Math | 570–650 | |
| ACT Composite | 20–27 | 12 (23%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at American College of the Building Arts →Academics
62% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. Retention of 75% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. At 8:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. This is a private nonprofit four-year college, so read every rate on this page against that peer group specifically.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 141 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price averages $30,270 annually, so cost is the first thing to weigh here. Net price varies modestly by income — $27,879 at $0–30k against $34,704 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. Only 48% of students receive grant aid, so most families are paying near the published price. 39% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
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 · 33 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 | $27,879 |
| $30–48k | $29,454 |
| $48–75k | $32,248 |
| $75–110k | $33,835 |
| $110k+ | $34,704 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 55 of these 141 students, totalling $545,674 — an average of $9,921 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Charleston 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)