College profile
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
MA · Public · Large city · 3,027 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- The payoff multiple: roughly 5× over a decade. Median grads earn about $43,582 a year ten years out — across a decade, that's ~5× the four-year cost at the average net price among aid recipients (~$24,100/yr). Not the sticker — but not necessarily your number either; check the college's calculator.
- Ask the submit question deliberately. This college is test-optional — but at many such colleges, applicants who submit strong scores are admitted at meaningfully higher rates. “Optional” is a strategy decision, not a pass.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Parent/student verdict
AccessibleAccessible for most applicants.
Best for
- Students focused on Visual & Performing Arts (the school's signature program)
- Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience
The reality
- Out-of-state tuition is 2.8× the in-state rate
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price with aid and at full price, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
What are your child's odds here?
Enter their numbers once — this and every college page shows their verdict, and the UC campus cards on California school pages light up with it too. Free, no email.
Weighted is the higher GPA, with honors/AP credit in it — pick whichever your school reports. PSAT scores work in the SAT box.
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 Massachusetts College of Art and Design actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by Massachusetts College of Art and Design's own aid decision: the gap between its price and your family's finances.
Your odds + estimated cost across your whole college list, side by side.
The payoffTen years of typical graduate pay minus four years of cost — how many dollars ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten. Check both the full-price and with-aid versions to see which applies to you; median pay reflects who a college admits and what they study as much as the college itself., both ways
+$299K ahead at full price +$339K with aidSource: College Scorecard (average net price among Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates who received aid) and each college's published cost of attendance. We don't show the federal net-price-by-income brackets: their categories were fixed in 2008 and never adjusted, and none of the averages is your family's own number — the full story. Payoff = (10-yr median earnings × 10) − (4 years of cost), in dollars — how far ahead a typical graduate runs by year ten; medians travel with the students a college admits and the majors they choose as much as with the college itself. Full price is the published cost of attendance, largely in-state for publics; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Massachusetts College of Art and Design actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Massachusetts College of Art and Design's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas. | $54,947 |
| Film/Video and Photographic Arts. | $51,139 |
| Design and Applied Arts. | $45,716 |
| Fine and Studio Arts. | $40,999 |
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. It measures two things at once: how many lower-income students a college enrols, and how many of them reach the top earnings quintile later. A high rate says the college does both — it does not establish that the campus caused the earnings, because the students it admits differ from the students it doesn't. Read it as a signal about access and destination, not as proof of value added.
Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →
Alternatives to Massachusetts College of Art and Design
Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.
Or compare any college side-by-side
Deciding on Massachusetts College of Art and Design?
Get the full picture in one free report — your child's Reach / Match / Likely odds and your real net price, for Massachusetts College of Art and Design and every other college on your list.
Get your child's odds at Massachusetts College of Art and Design →Score-odds calculator · Improve the score first · Find merit aid
For Parents
Get alerts when Massachusetts College of Art and Design's numbers change
New admit rates, costs, and outcomes — a few alerts a year, no spam. Your email also saves your list across devices.
Objective, government-grade data — no school pays us for placement.
At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantMassachusetts College of Art and Design is a public four-year college in MA. It admitted 78% of applicants (3,027 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Cost: about $24,100 a year on average with aid, $34,239 a year at full price for in-state students.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $43,582 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $339,420 ahead with aid, $298,864 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Teacher Education and Professional Development, Specific Subject Areas ($54,947); Film/Video and Photographic Arts ($51,139); Design and Applied Arts ($45,716).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 7% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 20% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/massachusetts-college-of-art-and-design.json