Aveda Institute-Des Moines
For-profit College in West Des Moines, IA. Six-year graduation rate 97%. Median 10-year earnings $36,132.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $36,132, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. The six-year graduation rate of 97% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Borrowing stays contained, with median debt at graduation of $8,461.
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)
- ✓ Graduation rate 97% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
97% of students finish within six years, putting completion well above the national norm. Retention is strong at 89%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. The 15:1 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. This is a small school — 302 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 302 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $14,619 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($18,486 versus $23,501), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Only 41% of students receive grant aid, so most families are paying near the published price. Federal borrowing reaches 48% 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 · 103 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 | $18,486 |
| $30–48k | $9,412 |
| $48–75k | $15,446 |
| $75–110k | $23,501 |
| $110k+ | $23,501 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 145 of these 302 students, totalling $1,030,294 — an average of $7,105 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Dallas 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)