Sonoran Desert Institute
For-profit College in Tempe, AZ. Six-year graduation rate 33%.
Completion is the weak point: 33% graduate within six years. Graduates leave owing a median of $9,500 — modest by four-year standards.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 33% — below national average
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 33% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. Retention of 69% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. A 32:1 ratio means students need to be deliberate about getting faculty time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,763 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $20,118 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Income makes less difference than usual: $20,144 at $0–30k, $25,204 at $110k+. 33% get grants, which means the net price above will not apply to most applicants. Federal borrowing reaches 28% of students.
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 · 825 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 | $20,144 |
| $30–48k | $20,584 |
| $48–75k | $20,960 |
| $75–110k | $23,603 |
| $110k+ | $25,204 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,323 of these 4,763 students, totalling $9,884,411 — an average of $7,471 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Maricopa 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)