Kansas City
Art Institute
Private College in Kansas City, MO. Six-year graduation rate 58%. Median 10-year earnings $37,032.
Students who entered Kansas City Art Institute reach a median of $37,032 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. The six-year graduation rate is 58%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Graduates leave owing a median of $27,000 — a substantial load to service on these earnings.
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 0.73 — elevated (above 0.60)
- ! Mobility score 0.0 — limited economic uplift documented
Admissions
At 55%, the acceptance rate makes Kansas City Art Institute a school worth applying to with alternatives in hand. The applicant pool is small at 1,125, which makes year-over-year comparisons unreliable. About 35% of admitted students enroll, a yield in the normal range.
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 Kansas City Art Institute →Academics
58% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. Retention of 78% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. The 10:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. This is a private nonprofit four-year college, so read every rate on this page against that peer group specifically.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 782 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $27,650 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. Income makes less difference than usual: $26,293 at $0–30k, $30,840 at $110k+. Grant aid is widespread — 100% of students receive it, averaging $27,612. 70% 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 · 240 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 | $26,293 |
| $30–48k | $25,105 |
| $48–75k | $27,663 |
| $75–110k | $29,943 |
| $110k+ | $30,840 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 548 of these 782 students, totalling $3,602,470 — an average of $6,574 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Jackson 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)