Arizona Culinary Institute
For-profit College in Scottsdale, AZ. Median 10-year earnings $41,651.
Ten-year median earnings of $41,651 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Median debt at graduation is $9,500, a light load against those earnings.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.23 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
No six-year graduation rate is reported for this institution, which is common for schools whose students are mostly part-time, transfer in, or enroll in short programs that the federal cohort measure does not track. Its absence is not itself a bad sign, but it does remove the clearest completion signal. Retention is strong at 90%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. The 14:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. As a for-profit short-program school, outcomes here deserve a harder look than the sector average suggests: for-profit institutions vary enormously, and the sector's aggregate numbers hide both strong and very weak performers.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 234 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $37,248 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Net price varies modestly by income — $35,533 at $0–30k against $42,649 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. Grant aid reaches 71% of students at an average of $5,757. About 53% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 88 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 | $35,533 |
| $30–48k | $37,475 |
| $48–75k | $39,516 |
| $75–110k | $41,947 |
| $110k+ | $42,649 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 125 of these 234 students, totalling $931,720 — an average of $7,454 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Maricopa 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)