Berklee College of Music

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Berklee College of Music

Berklee College of Music operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Boston, Massachusetts (city: large), with a total reported enrollment of 7,468 students of which 8,697 are undergraduates. Institution-level records in the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) classify each school by Carnegie category, ownership sector, and urban/rural locale, which is how this profile’s peer group and cost cohort are determined. Berklee College of Music is categorized as “18” under the Carnegie classification system, a meaningful signal when comparing like-to-like institutions.

Selectivity and financial signals give context to what applicants can expect. The reported admission rate is 43.5%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $49,465, with published in-state tuition of $52,040 and a Pell grant recipient share of 16.2%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $25,000, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 66.8%, and the first-year retention rate is 88.6%. Graduates earn a median of $33,647 ten years after enrolling, compared with $26,462 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 148900.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 41.5% of graduates earn above the high-school threshold. Treating these numbers as a single snapshot alongside the cost cohort is the standard approach for evaluating ROI under the College Scorecard methodology.