Pinnacle Career Institute
For-profit College in Kansas City, MO. Six-year graduation rate 52%. Median 10-year earnings $34,213.
Ten-year median earnings of $34,213 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. The six-year graduation rate is 52%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Borrowing stays contained, with median debt at graduation of $11,605. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.7% of students move from the bottom income quintile to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.34 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
52% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. 69% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in three are gone before sophomore year. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. A 38:1 ratio means students need to be deliberate about getting faculty time. Being a for-profit two-year institution 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.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 929 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $28,366 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Net price varies modestly by income — $28,154 at $0–30k against $33,018 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. 79% of students receive grant aid, averaging $5,320 — common but not automatic. Borrowing is widespread: 73% 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 · 665 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 | $28,154 |
| $30–48k | $29,474 |
| $48–75k | $30,543 |
| $75–110k | $32,435 |
| $110k+ | $33,018 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 678 of these 929 students, totalling $5,183,507 — an average of $7,645 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Platte 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)