Columbia College Chicago

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Columbia College Chicago

Columbia College Chicago operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Chicago, Illinois (city: large), with a total reported enrollment of 5,368 students of which 6,666 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 Chicago is categorized as “19” 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 89.5%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $26,598, with published in-state tuition of $34,088 and a Pell grant recipient share of 46.0%. 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 49.9%, and the first-year retention rate is 66.0%. Graduates earn a median of $42,195 ten years after enrolling, compared with $32,596 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 626500.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 52.1% 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.