Pittsburgh Institute
of Aeronautics
Private College in West Mifflin, PA. Six-year graduation rate 76%. Median 10-year earnings $66,642.
Ten-year median earnings of $66,642 are the headline number here, and they are strong ones. The six-year graduation rate of 76% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Graduates leave owing a median of $12,230 — modest by four-year standards. On economic mobility, 2.2% of students travel 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 0.18 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 76% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Six-year completion runs to 76% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. Retention of 78% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. A 15:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. The undergraduate body is just 591, 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 591 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay $30,118 a year on average after aid, a premium price that the earnings data has to justify. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $28,445 while those at $110k+ pay $36,940. About 55% get grants averaging $7,108, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. Most students borrow — 66% 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 · 195 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 | $28,445 |
| $30–48k | $29,124 |
| $48–75k | $30,623 |
| $75–110k | $35,275 |
| $110k+ | $36,940 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 390 of these 591 students, totalling $2,881,353 — an average of $7,388 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Allegheny 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)