The Salon
Professional Academy-Fargo
For-profit College in Fargo, ND. Six-year graduation rate 79%. Median 10-year earnings $31,497.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $31,497, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. 79% graduate within six years, so most students who start here finish here. Median debt at graduation is $12,000, a light load against those earnings.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Graduation rate 79% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Six-year completion runs to 79% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. 93% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. At 12:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. Being a for-profit short-program school 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 248 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $17,534 annually once grants are applied. Only 31% of students receive grant aid, so most families are paying near the published price. 36% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
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 · 89 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 | $18,814 |
| $30–48k | — |
| $48–75k | — |
| $75–110k | — |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 89 of these 248 students, totalling $600,177 — an average of $6,744 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Cass County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
Probation or Equivalent or More Severe Status: Monitoring (Other - Provide unlisted or multiple justifications); School has an accreditation issue
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)