🎓 College profile
California Institute of the Arts
CA · Private nonprofit · Large suburb · 2,023 applicants 2023
🎯 Parent/student verdict
Strong targetSelective but achievable for strong students. Expect a high net price across most income brackets.
✅ Best for
- Strong overall academic profile (3.9+ unweighted GPA in rigorous coursework + strong essays — school is test-optional, so the transcript carries the most weight)
- Students focused on Visual & Performing Arts (the school's signature program)
- Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience
🎯 The reality
- Test-optional — but selective. Transcript GPA, course rigor, and essays do the heavy lifting
- With selective universities, build a balanced college list of Reaches, Targets, and Safeties ⓘ
- High cost — aid-receiving families above $110K income still average ~$58,873/yr net, and without need aid the full price is ~$77,560/yr — verify the major's earnings track record before committing
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price by income, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
🏛️ Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
📊 Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
💰 The real cost
What families at your income actually pay
Above $110K income — where most Reach families sit — aid-receiving families average $58,873/yr at California Institute of the Arts; families who don't qualify for aid pay the full ~$77,560/yr. Lower brackets pay less — the full ladder is below. One caveat, once: every bracket figure here averages only the families in that bracket who received aid — it says nothing about whether your family will qualify.
🔎 Earning over $110K? You're above the top federal bracket — the median family headed by a 45-to-54-year-old (the prime college-parent years) earned about $134K in 2024, and the federal data lumps everyone from $110K to $1M+ into one row.
Whether you'll get need aidGrant money based on your family's finances (via FAFSA and the college's own forms), not your student's stats. at this income is entirely college-specific: a few heavily-endowed schools meet full need well past $150K, while many others give little above the brackets shown — there, merit scholarships, where offered, become the realistic lever.
Start your Family Decision Report →Your odds + estimated net price across your whole college list — then confirm the exact figure with California Institute of the Arts's own Net Price Calculator ↗ (10–15 min; have your tax return handy).
📈 The payoffTen years of typical earnings divided by four years of cost. A 3× means a decade of median pay covers the cost three times over — check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you., both ways
1.3× at full price 2.2× with aidSource: College Scorecard (NPT41–NPT45; Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates; suppressed brackets = small cohorts; the $110K+ ceiling is a federal data limitation — the brackets haven't been refreshed since the early 2010s). Payoff multiple = (10-yr median earnings × 10) ÷ (4-yr cost); full price is the published cost of attendance; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
📚 What students study here
Most popular majors at California Institute of the Arts
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what California Institute of the Arts actually graduates — not just what it markets.
💼 What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — California Institute of the Arts's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft. | $41,192 |
| Music. | $40,294 |
| Film/Video and Photographic Arts. | $29,426 |
| Fine and Studio Arts. | $28,617 |
Sources: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a; bachelor's-level first majors, 2-digit CIP family — share is of the top 5 only) · College Scorecard program-level outcomes (PP-FOS). Full college-vs-major comparison: /college-outcomes →
📈 Student body & economic mobility
Who attends here — and what the campus adds.
Opportunity Insights data. Why it matters even if you're full-pay: a high mobility rate means the campus itself confers earnings power — the outcomes aren't just selection effects.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
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