Columbia College

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Columbia College

Columbia College operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Columbia, South Carolina (city: midsize), with a total reported enrollment of 1,343 students of which 1,522 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. Columbia College is categorized as “20” 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 93.9%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $18,408, with published in-state tuition of $22,214 and a Pell grant recipient share of 54.0%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $22,750, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 45.1%, and the first-year retention rate is 60.4%. Graduates earn a median of $41,338 ten years after enrolling, compared with $45,863 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 70800.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 54.1% 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.