College of the Desert

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for College of the Desert

College of the Desert operates as a public institution located in Palm Desert, California (city: small), with a total reported enrollment of 10,207 students of which 15,931 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. College of the Desert is categorized as “1” 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. Admission rate data is not currently reported for this institution. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $15,728, with published in-state tuition of $1,326 and a Pell grant recipient share of 37.9%.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. Four-year completion rate data is unavailable, rising to 30.0% at six years. Graduates earn a median of $39,020 ten years after enrolling, compared with $31,085 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 39500.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 47.8% 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.