Cleveland Institute
of Art
Private College in Cleveland, OH. Six-year graduation rate 58%. Median 10-year earnings $42,509.
Ten years after entry, the median Cleveland Institute of Art student earns $42,509 — a solidly middle-of-the-pack result for an undergraduate institution. Six-year completion sits at 58%, near the national average for undergraduate institutions. Median debt at graduation reaches $27,000, heavy enough to shape the years right after the degree.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Debt-to-income ratio 0.64 — elevated (above 0.60)
Admissions
Cleveland Institute of Art accepts 61% of applicants, which makes it accessible to most students who meet the baseline requirements. With 978 applicants, admissions statistics here move a lot on small changes. Yield is low at 20%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling. Read the score bands below narrowly: only 17% of enrolled first-years submitted an SAT score, and test-optional applicants are not represented in them.
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 | 500–660 | 20 (17%) |
| SAT Math | 480–620 | |
| ACT Composite | 23–29 | 15 (13%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Cleveland Institute of Art →Academics
Six-year completion sits at 58%, meaning about two in five students who enroll leave without finishing. Retention is strong at 88%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. At 9:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. As a private nonprofit four-year college, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 560 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price averages $30,837 annually, so cost is the first thing to weigh here. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $23,423 while those at $110k+ pay $37,436. Most students get help: 99% receive grants worth $31,295 on average. 80% of students borrow federally, so debt is the norm rather than the exception.
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 · 122 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 | $23,423 |
| $30–48k | $24,992 |
| $48–75k | $26,654 |
| $75–110k | $30,518 |
| $110k+ | $37,436 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 446 of these 560 students, totalling $3,267,779 — an average of $7,327 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Cuyahoga 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)