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🎓 College profile

Plaza College

NY · Private for-profit · Large city · 1,410 applicants 2023

30% admit rate $26,525/yr full price
Get your child's odds at Plaza College Free Family Decision Report — Reach / Match / Likely + your real net price. Plaza College starts already on the list. Start →

🎯 Parent/student verdict

Strong target

Selective but achievable for strong students.

✅ 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 Health Professions (the school's signature program)
  • Families wanting a small liberal-arts experience

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?

Carnegie classification
Baccalaureate/Associate's Colleges: Mixed Bacc/Assoc
Total enrollment
984
Under 1,000
TuitionThe published full price before any aid. Families who don't qualify for need-based aid — common above ~$110K income — pay this, minus any merit scholarships.
$15,450
flat rate (no in/out-of-state split)

⚠️ Sticker price isn't every family's price. Lower- and middle-income families often pay materially less after grants; higher-income families frequently pay close to sticker unless the college offers merit scholarships. Check the school's own net-price calculator for your number.

Admit rateThe share of applicants a college accepts. Useful context, but your student's odds depend on their own grades and scores, not the average.
30.0%
Selective
Test policyApplicants choose whether to send SAT/ACT scores. At many such colleges, students who submit strong scores are still admitted at higher rates.
Test-optional
2023
10-yr earningsMedian yearly pay of former students ten years after they STARTED here — not ten years after graduating — all majors combined. The broadest single outcome number a college reports.
$31,519
median, after entry

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).

Earnings, 6 yrs after entry
$32,282
Earnings, 10 yrs after entryMedian yearly pay of former students ten years after they STARTED here — not ten years after graduating — all majors combined. The broadest single outcome number a college reports.
$31,519
4-year completionThe share of students who finish a bachelor's in four years. Nationally barely half do — and a fifth year quietly adds a full extra year of cost to the real price.
68%
Median debt (completers)The federal-loan balance of the typical graduating borrower. Families who pay cash aren't counted, so read it as "among those who borrowed."
$20,751

📚 What students study here

Most popular majors at Plaza College

Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Plaza College actually graduates — not just what it markets.

1. Health Professions
36 degrees · 64.3%
Highest-paying group on this list, but most careers require additional training beyond a 4-year degree.
2. Business, Management, & Marketing
20 degrees · 35.7%
Broad set of corporate roles. Finance + consulting pay top, accounting + HR pay middle, sales spread is wide.

💼 What those majors earn here

Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — Plaza College's own graduates, not national averages.

Major (CIP) Credential Cohort 1-yr earnings 4-yr earnings
Business Administration, Management and Operations. Bachelor's Degree 30 $40,764 $52,337
Health and Medical Administrative Services. Bachelor's Degree 15 $39,317 $45,125

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.

Top-1% access
0.1%
from top-1% households
Mobility rateThe share of ALL students who arrived from the bottom 20% of family incomes AND reached the top 20% themselves by their early 30s — access and lift in one number, and a sign the campus itself adds earnings power.
3.7%
bottom 20% → top 20% by age 32
Upward rate
8.3%
of lower-income students who reach the top 20%
Pell recipientsStudents receiving federal Pell grants, which go to lower- and middle-income families — the standard shorthand for a college's economic mix.
85%
on federal need grants — context for these numbers

Full leaderboards: /college-mobility →

Alternatives to Plaza College

Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.

🏆 Better merit-aid options
These similar-selectivity schools publish merit scholarships your family can plan around — your kid’s stats could unlock real scholarship dollars.
Tuskegee University
AL · Private nonprofit
3 stats-based merit scholarships
University of Miami
FL · Private nonprofit
3 competitive merit scholarships
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
NC · Public
3 competitive merit scholarships
🛡️ Safer in-state options
Same state and similar selectivity, but with a more forgiving admit rate — useful safety / match anchors.
Stony Brook University
NY · Public
49% admit rate (vs 30% here)
CUNY Bernard M Baruch College
NY · Public
50% admit rate (vs 30% here)
State University of New York at Cortland
NY · Public
51% admit rate (vs 30% here)
🚀 Stronger campus value-add
Per Opportunity Insights, these campuses add more earnings power to the students they enroll than Plaza College does — a quality signal, not a cost play.
University of California-Irvine
CA · Public
6.8% mobility rate (vs 3.7% here)
Tuskegee University
AL · Private nonprofit
5.2% mobility rate (vs 3.7% here)
Binghamton University
NY · Public
5.1% mobility rate (vs 3.7% here)

⚖️ Or compare any college side-by-side

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