Masters Colleges & Universities: Small ProgramsPrivate nonprofit

Art Center College of Design

Pasadena, California·Private not-for-profit, 4-year or above·Far West·artcenter.edu
6-yr Graduation
79%
+10.0pp vs Masters Colleges & Universities: Small Programs
Total enrollment
2,308
peer median 1,677
Avg net price
$50,209
+$9.9k vs Masters Colleges & Universities: Small Programs
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About

Art Center College of Design is a private art and design college located in Pasadena, California. It offers a variety of undergraduate and graduate degrees focused on fields such as graphic design, industrial design, and transportation design. The specific founding year is not mentioned in the provided text.

Admissions & acceptance rate

First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.

Applied
1,461
1,461 candidates competed
Admitted
1,089
74.5% acceptance rate
Enrolled
343
31.5% yield

Graduation rate & outcomes

Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.

Overall completion
79%+10.0pp vs Masters Colleges & Universities: Small Programs
4-year graduation
35%
6-year graduation (bachelor’s)
79%
Full-time retention
86%

Pell equity

7.0pp gap
Pell recipients
74%
Non-Pell
67%

Pell recipients graduate at a higher rate than non-Pell students here — unusual and worth investigating.

Tuition & cost

What families actually pay, broken down by family income.

Net price by family income

Aid exceeds costFamily pays
$0–30k$42,545
$30–48k$40,905
$48–75k$46,301
$75–110k$52,165
$110k+$60,976

Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.

Avg net price (private)
$50,209
+$9,897vs Masters Colleges & Universities: Small Programs median $40,312
Federal loans
35.6%
In-state tuition
$51,640
Out-of-state
$51,640

Academic programs at Art Center College of Design

Top program areas ranked by completions.

Distinct CIP programs12
UndergraduateOffered
GraduateOffered

Top program families by completions

608 total completions
01Visual/Performing Arts
32353.1%
02Engineering Tech
11418.8%
03Comm. Technologies
9515.6%
04Computer Sciences
457.4%
05Architecture
213.5%
06Business
101.6%

Enrollment trends & demographics

Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.

Fall total
2,308
12-mo unduplicated
2,923
Undergraduate
2,582
Graduate
341

Gender split

Men
43%1,246
Women
57%1,677

Race / ethnicity composition

Non-resident
44.3%
Asian
30.4%
Hispanic
10.1%
White
9.4%
Two or more
3.9%
Black
1.5%
Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander
0.2%

Student-faculty ratio

Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.

Student-to-faculty
9.0:1
Instructional staff (full-time equivalent)
87

Art Center College of Design vs Peer comparison

The peer institutions Art Center College of Design selected for federal comparison reporting.

GraduationRetentionSelectivityEnrollmentAffordabilityYield
This institutionPeer median

A larger shape on any axis means this institution outperforms its peers on that dimension. For acceptance rate and net price, lower raw values are inverted so "more selective" and "more affordable" appear larger.

Carnegie
SubjectArt Center College of Design
79%2,308$50,209Masters Colleges & Universities: Small Programs
Academy of Art University
34%5,498$39,778Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs
California College of the Arts
61%91.1%1,308$42,168
California Institute of Technology
94%2.6%2,430$18,902R1 Research
California Institute of the Arts
67%32.3%1,277$47,183Masters Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs
Chapman University
82%65.4%9,760$47,527R2 Research
Cleveland Institute of Art
58%61.3%545$41,480
College for Creative Studies
71%91.9%1,433$33,342
Columbus College of Art & Design
56%67.7%916$30,139
Cornish College of the Arts
56%62.2%505$39,060
Kansas City Art Institute
58%54.8%813$29,555
Loyola Marymount University
79%45.1%10,179$45,723R2 Research
Maryland Institute College of Art
72%76.8%1,687$38,429
Massachusetts College of Art and Design
69%76.3%1,989$23,764
Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design
67%60.5%838$27,514
Minneapolis College of Art and Design
51%48.5%831$25,935
Northeastern University Oakland
62%16.7%640Masters Colleges & Universities: Medium Programs
Occidental College
81%44.2%1,881$39,329Baccalaureate
Otis College of Art and Design
66%81.8%1,267$45,864
Pacific Northwest College of Art
29%74.8%466$40,846
Pitzer College
83%25.2%1,242$31,663Baccalaureate
Pomona College
93%7.1%1,700$19,424Baccalaureate
Pratt Institute-Main
74%73.3%5,356$50,647
Rhode Island School of Design
89%18.7%2,520$46,253Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs
Ringling College of Art and Design
72%69.7%1,666$55,390
Savannah College of Art and Design
69%83.0%18,550$45,450Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
67%77.5%3,394$49,822
School of Visual Arts
76%92.6%3,812$58,628Masters Colleges & Universities: Larger Programs
Scripps College
83%38.3%1,137$38,802Baccalaureate
Stanford University
92%3.6%18,625$12,136R1 Research
The New School
69%63.5%9,068$55,359R2 Research
University of the Arts
69%78.2%$44,154
Woodbury University
60%81.6%849$28,248Masters Colleges & Universities: Small Programs
Peer group median69%63.5%1,677$40,312

Art Center College of Design Institutional Research office

The IR team responsible for the institution's federal reporting.

Office
Office of Institutional Research
Reports to Center for Educational Effectiveness

The Office of Institutional Research provides leadership on institutional data analysis and reporting to promote evidence-based decision-making and supports key departments with strategic data for planning.

Visit IR office page

Reports & documents (1)

Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.

Notable alumni of Art Center College of Design (19)

A curated list of alumni recognized for notable achievements across industries.

  • Michael Bay
    Film and Graduate Film
  • Roger Avary
    Film and Graduate Film
  • Ralph McQuarrie
    Entertainment Design
  • Syd Mead
    Entertainment Design
  • SangYup Lee
    Transportation Design
  • Larry Shinoda
    Transportation Design
  • Franz von Holzhausen
    Transportation Design
  • Chip Foose
    Transportation Design
  • Henrik Fisker
    Transportation Design
  • Floyd Norman
    Illustration
  • Andy Park
    Entertainment Design
  • Stefan G. Bucher
    Graphic Design
Showing 112 of 19
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