Barber Tech Academy-Columbia
For-profit College in Columbia, SC.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
This institution reports no six-year graduation rate. The federal measure only follows first-time, full-time students, so schools built around part-time or transfer enrollment often fall outside it entirely. First-year retention is 67% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. A 17:1 ratio is unremarkable; expect a mix of lecture halls and seminars. This is a for-profit short-program school. That is not disqualifying, but it does mean verifying accreditation, transferability of credits, and job-placement claims directly rather than trusting the category. This is a small school — 56 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 56 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $26,281 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. The gap between the $0–30k and $30–48k bands is narrow ($26,191 versus $27,178), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. 84% of students receive grant aid, averaging $7,633 — common but not automatic. Borrowing is widespread: 77% take federal loans.
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 · 11 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 | $26,191 |
| $30–48k | $27,178 |
| $48–75k | — |
| $75–110k | — |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 43 of these 56 students, totalling $389,994 — an average of $9,070 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Richland County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026