Ruben's Five
Star Academy
For-profit College in Lake Wales, FL.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
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 88%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. The 5:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. As a for-profit short-program school, outcomes here deserve a harder look than the sector average suggests: for-profit institutions vary enormously, and the sector's aggregate numbers hide both strong and very weak performers. The undergraduate body is just 37, 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 37 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $22,540 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. The gap between the $0–30k and $75–110k bands is narrow ($22,404 versus $24,369), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 70% of students at an average of $4,290. Borrowing is widespread: 68% 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 · 21 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 | $22,404 |
| $30–48k | $23,123 |
| $48–75k | — |
| $75–110k | $24,369 |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 25 of these 37 students, totalling $95,196 — an average of $3,808 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Polk 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)