College profile
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
IL · Private nonprofit · Large city · 6,633 applicants 2023
A parent's read
- Top feeder high schools: Archer School for Girls (1), Harvard-Westlake School (1), McDonogh School (1), Millburn High School (1), Prestonwood Christian Academy (1). Graduates per class year, from each high school's own published list. 31 high schools' lists name School of the Art Institute of Chicago; every one is ranked below.
- Your price depends enormously on whether you qualify for aid. Families who receive aid average about $49,790/yr here; without aid it's the full ~$75,625/yr. There's no income cutoff for aid — qualifying depends on the gap between this college's price and your finances, which is why the college's own net-price calculator — not any average — is the estimate to trust.
Composed from this page's data — every claim is backed by a number in the sections below.
Feeder high schools
Which high schools send graduates to School of the Art Institute of Chicago?
The high schools sending the most graduates per class year to School of the Art Institute of Chicago, from each school's own published list: Archer School for Girls (1), Harvard-Westlake School (1), McDonogh School (1), Millburn High School (1), Prestonwood Christian Academy (1). 31 high schools' lists name School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Enrolled — from the schools' matriculation lists
All 31 schools, with the class years each list covers
How this is counted
31 high schools publish a numbered matriculation list — where their graduates actually enrolled, counted, in the school's own School Profile — and name School of the Art Institute of Chicago on it. Between them they printed 36 enrolled graduates. Ranked by graduates per class year enrolling at School of the Art Institute of Chicago, from each school's own published list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, so a one-year list and a five-year list can sit on the same page. A list whose class years we cannot read is not divided by a guess — it is listed below with its total instead.
Is my high school on this list?
Admitted — from the schools' acceptance lists
All 4 schools, with the class years each list covers
How this is counted
4 high schools publish a numbered list of college acceptances — where their graduates were admitted, not where they enrolled — and name School of the Art Institute of Chicago on it. Between them they printed 9 admissions. Ranked by admissions per class year to School of the Art Institute of Chicago, from each school's own published acceptances list: the number that school printed, divided by the class years its list covers. Admits are counted at each college a student was admitted to, the same way the UC Reach Score counts a student admitted to three UC campuses three times — so this is a count of admissions, not of students. The published total and the school's own years label are shown beside every school, and a list whose class years we cannot read is listed below with its total rather than divided by a guess.
All 34 feeder schools, ranked →
Counted from each school's own published document, linked on that school's page. A high school that is not here does not publish a numbered list we could read — that is all absence means, and it says nothing about its graduates. Where a school publishes both, the two lists are shown separately: an acceptances list is not a list of enrollments, and the two are never added together.
Parent/student verdict
AccessibleAccessible for most applicants. Expect a high net price across most income brackets.
Best for
- Students focused on Visual & Performing Arts (the school's signature program)
- Families wanting a small undergraduate experience
The reality
- High cost — full price is ~$75,625/yr without aid, and aid-receiving families still average ~$49,790/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 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 School of the Art Institute of Chicago actually costs
Which side your family lands on isn't set by any national income line — it's set by School of the Art Institute of Chicago'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
+$99K ahead at full price +$202K 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; earnings are 10 years after enrollment, all majors combined.
What students study here
Most popular majors at School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what School of the Art Institute of Chicago actually graduates — not just what it markets.
What those majors earn here
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major — School of the Art Institute of Chicago's own graduates, not national averages.
| Major (CIP) | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|
| Fine and Studio Arts. | $45,602 |
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 School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Matched not just by selectivity, but by strategic goal — what a family actually decides on.
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Deciding on School of the Art Institute of Chicago?
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Related reading
States · October 2026
States · October 2026
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At a glance
JSON · Using this page with an AI assistantSchool of the Art Institute of Chicago is a private nonprofit four-year college in IL. It admitted 76% of applicants (6,633 applied, 2023). Test policy: Test-optional.
Cost: about $49,790 a year on average with aid, $75,625 a year at full price.
Median earnings ten years after entry: $40,151 a year. Payoff, meaning ten years of that pay minus four years of cost: $202,350 ahead with aid, $99,010 ahead at full price.
Highest median earnings four years after the degree, by program: Fine and Studio Arts ($45,602).
Economic mobility (Opportunity Insights): 7% of students came from families in the bottom fifth of income, and 27% of those reached the top fifth as adults.
High schools that publish a numbered matriculation list and name School of the Art Institute of Chicago: 31, 36 enrolled students between them — ranked by graduates per class year, most often Archer School for Girls (1.0 per class year, 1 over 1 class year, Class of '25); Harvard-Westlake School (1.0 per class year, 1 over 1 class year, BY THE CLASSES OF 2021-2025, counted column "CLASS OF '25"); McDonogh School (1.0 per class year, 1 over 1 class year, Class of 2026). Each figure is the number that school printed divided by the class years its own list covers; the totals and years are shown. These are the schools that publish such a list, not every school that sends students; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago.
High schools that publish a numbered list of college acceptances naming School of the Art Institute of Chicago: 4, 9 admissions between them — ranked by admissions per class year, most often California School of the Arts — San Gabriel Valley (3.0 per class year, 3 over 1 class year, Class of 2026, counted column "Acceptances (Class of 2026)"); Archbishop Mitty High School (1.0 per class year, 1 over 1 class year, Class of 2026); The Chapin School (0.8 per class year, 4 over 5 class years, 2022-2026, counted column "Admitted"). Admits are counted at each college, so this counts admissions, not students. These are a different set of documents from the matriculation lists above and the two are never added together; full list: https://highschoolreach.com/leaderboards/feeder-schools/school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago.
Machine-readable version of this page: https://highschoolreach.com/colleges/school-of-the-art-institute-of-chicago.json
Analysis: Test Prep Gurus (High School Reach, highschoolreach.com). These figures may be quoted with attribution to Test Prep Gurus.