Sonoran Desert Institute
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 4 Title IV programs, 1 pass the federal Gainful Employment test and 0 fail. 3 have graduate earnings too small to publish, so they carry no pass/fail verdict.
Pass / fail distribution
- Passing1 · 25.0%
- No Data3 · 75.0%
- 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.
Distance Education Accrediting Commission
Action history · 2
- Jun 2023Renewal of AccreditationDistance Education Accrediting Commission
- Jun 2018Renewal of AccreditationDistance Education Accrediting Commission
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, 2,682 students received $12.2M in Pell grants, alongside $11.2M 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 377 borrowers who entered repayment, 19 (5.0%) defaulted within three years — above 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 Sonoran Desert Institute
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
Student-faculty ratio
Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.
Sonoran Desert Institute vs Peer comparison
The peer institutions Sonoran Desert Institute 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 | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
SubjectSonoran Desert Institute | 33% | — | 5,437 | $19,921 | Special Focus Two-Year: Technical Professions |
Universal Technical Institute of Arizona Inc | — | — | 1,957 | $27,139 | Special Focus Two-Year: Technical Professions |
Refrigeration School Inc | — | — | 1,417 | $25,300 | Special Focus Two-Year: Technical Professions |
Universal Technical Institute-Dallas Fort Worth | — | — | 1,610 | $23,939 | Special Focus Two-Year: Technical Professions |
Lincoln College of Technology-Grand Prairie | — | — | 1,539 | $30,391 | Special Focus Two-Year: Technical Professions |
Tulsa Welding School-Tulsa | — | — | 892 | $33,120 | Special Focus Two-Year: Technical Professions |
| Peer group median | 33% | — | 1,575 | $26,220 |
Frequently asked questions about Sonoran Desert Institute
Quick answers to the questions most often asked about Sonoran Desert Institute.
What is the graduation rate at Sonoran Desert Institute?
How many students attend Sonoran Desert Institute?
What is the average net price at Sonoran Desert Institute?
Where is Sonoran Desert Institute located?
Have a question this page can’t answer?
Ask Clema anything about Sonoran Desert Institute and its peers — plain language in, cited answers out, in minutes instead of days.
Free for teams up to 3 · No credit card