Pennsylvania College of Art and Design

What the IPEDS & College Scorecard Data Shows for Pennsylvania College of Art and Design

Pennsylvania College of Art and Design operates as a private nonprofit institution located in Lancaster, Pennsylvania (city: small), with a total reported enrollment of 400 students of which 341 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. Pennsylvania College of Art and Design is categorized as “30” 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 99.2%, drawn from the most recent IPEDS Fall enrollment survey. The average net price after grants and scholarships is $30,083, with published in-state tuition of $32,150 and a Pell grant recipient share of 47.4%. Median federal student debt at graduation is $27,000, drawn from the U.S. Treasury-matched College Scorecard file.

Outcomes reveal whether the investment pays back. The 4-year completion rate is 65.8%, and the first-year retention rate is 85.1%. Graduates earn a median of $33,301 ten years after enrolling, compared with $23,638 six years post-enrollment. Within three years of entering repayment, 16000.0% of borrowers are making progress on their federal loans, and 37.5% 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.