Culinary Institute
of America
Private College in Hyde Park, NY. Six-year graduation rate 60%. Median 10-year earnings $47,475.
Students who entered Culinary Institute of America land at a median of $47,475 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 60%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Graduates leave owing a median of $15,750 — 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 0.33 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Admissions
Admission is not the constraint here: 91% of applicants are accepted. 2,259 applications came in, enough to make the rates below reasonably stable year to year. About 31% of admitted students enroll, a yield in the normal range. The score bands below rest on the 10% of enrolled first-years who submitted an SAT score — a self-selected group, and not a cutoff.
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 | 478–600 | 62 (10%) |
| SAT Math | 450–583 | |
| ACT Composite | 17–23 | 29 (5%) |
IPEDS Admissions · 2024
Apply at Culinary Institute of America →Academics
Six-year completion sits at 60%, meaning about two in five students who enroll leave without finishing. First-year retention is 70% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Transfer-out runs to 14% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. The student-faculty ratio is 18:1 — typical, which in practice means large lectures early and smaller classes in the major. 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 2,988 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price averages $39,581 annually, so cost is the first thing to weigh here. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $29,690 at the $0–30k band to $41,789 at $110k+. Most students get help: 91% receive grants worth $18,576 on average. About 53% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 680 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 | $29,690 |
| $30–48k | $29,527 |
| $48–75k | $34,603 |
| $75–110k | $38,087 |
| $110k+ | $41,789 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,591 of these 2,988 students, totalling $11,121,194 — an average of $6,990 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Dutchess 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)