Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service
About
The Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service is a vocational, postsecondary institution located in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1936, it specializes in funeral service education, offering an Associate of Applied Science Degree and a Certificate in Funeral Directing.
Admissions & acceptance rate
First-time freshman admissions: how selective the college is, and how many admitted students choose to enroll.
Graduation rate & outcomes
Completion, retention, and the equity gap between Pell and non-Pell students.
Pell equity
Pell recipients graduate at a higher rate than non-Pell students here — unusual and worth investigating.
Program outcomes
Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.
Of 2 Title IV programs, 1 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 0 fail. 1 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing1 · 50.0%
- No Data1 · 50.0%
- Failing0 · 0.0%
Severity spectrum
Tiers band programs by how far graduate earnings sit above or below the benchmark, from Critical (below −15%) through Safe (above +25%). No data means earnings were privacy-suppressed.
Earnings premium gap
Graduate earnings versus the federal benchmark, worst gaps first.
Debt vs earnings
Median completer debt against median graduate earnings, highest burden first.
Accreditation status & history
Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.
American Board of Funeral Service Education, Committee on Accreditation
Action history · 2
- Apr 2025Renewal of AccreditationAmerican Board of Funeral Service Education, Committee on Accreditation
- Apr 2018Renewal of AccreditationAmerican Board of Funeral Service Education, Committee on Accreditation
Tuition & cost
What families actually pay, broken down by family income.
Net price by family income
Negative values mean aid exceeds the published cost of attendance for that income band.
Federal aid volume & trends
Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.
In AY 2024–25, 265 students received $839K in Pell grants, alongside $1.1M in federal Direct Loans.
Pell recipients · 5-year trend
Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25
Loan awards count each loan type a student holds, not unique borrowers; one student may carry several (e.g. subsidized and unsubsidized), so the per-type figures are the reliable detail.
Student loan default rate
The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.
Of 104 borrowers who entered repayment, 0 (0.0%) defaulted within three years — below the 2.3% national rate.
Default rate vs national, by cohort
* Cohorts 2020 and later read near 0% because the federal COVID-19 payment pause (CARES Act) suspended defaults nationwide. These years reflect a national policy, not institutional performance; the 2019 cohort is the last measured under normal repayment.
Academic programs at Commonwealth
Top program areas ranked by completions.
Top program families by completions
Enrollment trends & demographics
Fall headcount, 12-month unduplicated enrollment, and student body composition.
Gender split
Race / ethnicity composition
Campus safety & crime statistics
Reported on-campus crimes over the last three years, including violence and hate crimes.
3-year trend
Criminal offenses by type
By location
- Public property1
VAWA offenses
Hate crimes by bias
No hate crimes reported.
Arrests vs disciplinary referrals
Residence-hall fires
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Commonwealth vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Commonwealth selected for federal comparison reporting.
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 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectCommonwealth Institute of Funeral Service | 55% | 86.4% | 254 | $42,938 | Special Focus Two-Year: Arts & Design |
American Academy McAllister Institute of Funeral Service | — | — | 270 | $21,682 | Special Focus Two-Year: Arts & Design |
American Academy of Dramatic Arts-New York | — | 92.0% | 187 | $54,625 | Special Focus Two-Year: Arts & Design |
Dallas Institute of Funeral Service | — | — | 454 | $19,845 | Special Focus Two-Year: Arts & Design |
Delaware College of Art and Design | — | 61.0% | — | $31,763 | Special Focus Two-Year: Arts & Design |
Gupton Jones College of Funeral Service | — | — | 338 | $21,563 | Special Focus Two-Year: Arts & Design |
Helms College | — | — | 183 | $21,117 | Special Focus Two-Year: Arts & Design |
John A Gupton College | — | 100.0% | 166 | $19,772 | Special Focus Two-Year: Arts & Design |
Pittsburgh Institute of Mortuary Science Inc | — | 49.0% | 374 | — | Special Focus Two-Year: Arts & Design |
Young Americans College of the Performing Arts | — | 100.0% | 15 | $32,938 | Special Focus Two-Year: Arts & Design |
| Peer group median | 55% | 89.2% | 254 | $21,682 |
Reports & documents (1)
Dashboards, factbooks, data dictionaries, and other reference material published by the IR office.
Frequently asked questions about Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Commonwealth.
What is the acceptance rate at Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service?
What is the graduation rate at Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service?
How many students attend Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service?
What is the average net price at Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service?
What is the yield rate at Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service?
Where is Commonwealth Institute of Funeral Service located?
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