Cutting Edge
Barber Academy
For-profit College in Lancaster, PA.
Academics
The federal six-year graduation rate is not published here — typically because the entering cohort this measure follows is too small or too atypical to report. Treat completion as unknown rather than assuming either direction. Retention is strong at 96%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. At 12:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. Being a for-profit short-program school is the single most useful context for these numbers — the sector's spread is wide enough that the school-level figures matter more than usual. The undergraduate body is just 49, which shapes everything from class size to how often a required course is offered.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 49 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $19,271 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. Income makes less difference than usual: $20,236 at $0–30k, $25,251 at $110k+. 57% of students receive grant aid, averaging $5,709 — common but not automatic. 73% 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 · 24 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 | $20,236 |
| $30–48k | $22,086 |
| $48–75k | $19,082 |
| $75–110k | $24,930 |
| $110k+ | $25,251 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 36 of these 49 students, totalling $243,880 — an average of $6,774 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lancaster 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)