ATA College
For-profit Community College in El Cajon, CA. Six-year graduation rate 89%. Median 10-year earnings $35,017.
Students who entered ATA College reach a median of $35,017 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. 90% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Graduates leave owing a median of $5,500 — modest by four-year standards.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.16 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 89% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
A 90% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. 91% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. The student-faculty ratio is 18:1 — typical, which in practice means large lectures early and smaller classes in the major. As a for-profit two-year institution, 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. This is a small school — 117 undergraduates — so cohorts are tight and the program list is necessarily short.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 117 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $19,157 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. The income table below is the number that matters — $18,739 at $0–30k versus $27,026 at $75–110k. Grant aid is widespread — 86% of students receive it, averaging $7,300. Most students borrow — 75% take federal loans to cover the gap.
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 · 34 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 | $18,739 |
| $30–48k | $18,934 |
| $48–75k | $20,138 |
| $75–110k | $27,026 |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 88 of these 117 students, totalling $662,010 — an average of $7,523 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (San Diego County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
Heightened Cash Monitoring (Financial Responsibility); School placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)