Dorsey College-Dearborn
For-profit College in Detroit, MI. Six-year graduation rate 35%. Median 10-year earnings $29,392.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $29,392, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Completion is the weak point: 35% graduate within six years. Graduates leave owing a median of $13,000 — modest by four-year standards.
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
Academics
Only 35% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential. Retention is weak: only 40% of full-time first-years return, so roughly three in five leave after one year. At 39:1, instructor access is thin — worth probing on a campus visit. This is a for-profit two-year institution. 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 — 450 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 450 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $25,450 annually once grants are applied. The gap between the $0–30k and $75–110k bands is narrow ($25,486 versus $27,684), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid is widespread — 93% of students receive it, averaging $5,633. Most students borrow — 89% take federal loans to cover the gap.
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 · 110 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 | $25,486 |
| $30–48k | $25,978 |
| $48–75k | $25,618 |
| $75–110k | $27,684 |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 402 of these 450 students, totalling $2,776,814 — an average of $6,907 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Wayne County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026