Columbia College Chicago
Private College in Chicago, IL. Six-year graduation rate 52%. Median 10-year earnings $42,195.
Students who entered Columbia College Chicago land at a median of $42,195 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. 52% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Graduates carry a median of $25,000 in debt — in line with the national norm.
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
- ! Mobility score 1.0 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
With an acceptance rate of 89%, Columbia College Chicago takes nearly everyone who applies. 7,079 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. Yield is low at 15%, so most admitted students do not end up enrolling.
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 | — | — |
| SAT Math | — | |
| ACT Composite | — | — |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Columbia College Chicago →Academics
52% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. First-year retention is 66% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. A 28% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here. The part-time picture is harder: 23% return, against 66% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 6,294 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay $29,473 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $20,924 while those at $110k+ pay $36,436. 96% of students get grant aid averaging $20,570, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Borrowing is widespread: 56% 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 · 1,578 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 | $20,924 |
| $30–48k | $21,423 |
| $48–75k | $25,590 |
| $75–110k | $31,677 |
| $110k+ | $36,436 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 3,522 of these 6,294 students, totalling $23,300,854 — an average of $6,616 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Cook 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)