Special Focus Two-Year: Technical ProfessionsPrivate (for-profit)

Sonoran Desert Institute

Name: Sonoran Desert Institute — Federal Education Data
Creator: Clema
Published: 2026-07-30
License: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Tempe, Arizona·Private for-profit, 2-year·Southwest·sdi.edu

6-yr Graduation

33%

—

Total enrollment

5,437

peer median 1,575

Avg net price

$20,678

-$8.1k vs Special Focus Two-Year: Technical Professions

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Outcomes Program outcomes Accreditation Cost Federal aid Loan defaults Academic programs Enrollment trends Faculty Peers IR Office

Graduation rate & outcomes

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

IPEDS

Overall completion

33%

Overall completion

33%

Full-time retention

69%

Full-time retention

69%

Pell equity

2.2pp gap

Pell recipients

35%108 of 312

Non-Pell (all)

33%449 of 1370

Subsidized loan, no Pell

21%20 of 96

No Federal Aid

34%429 of 1274

Pell recipients here graduate at a 2.2-point higher rate than non-Pell students, unusual and worth a closer look.

Source: IPEDS Graduation Rates (GR) — Pell/SSL cohort, 2024 cohort.

Program outcomes

Federal Program Performance Data: how each program's graduate earnings and debt measure up under Financial Value Transparency and Gainful Employment.

FVT/GE

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.

Total programs

Passing

25.0% of portfolio

Failing (GE)

0.0% of portfolio

Fail rate

0.0%

-0.6pp vs 0.6% national

Pass / fail distribution

4programs

Passing1 · 25.0%
No Data3 · 75.0%
Failing0 · 0.0%

Severity spectrum

Critical

Severe

Recoverable

At Risk

Watch

Safe

No data

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.

Program

Typical

Benchmark

EP gap

Precision Systems Maintenance and Repair Technologies/Technicians

Associate Degree · Mechanic And Repair Technologies/Technicians

$54,922

$34,808

National HS Median

+57.8%

+$20,114

Precision Systems Maintenance and Repair Technologies/Technicians

Associate Degree · Mechanic And Repair Technologies/Technicians

+57.8%

$54,922 vs $34,808

Debt vs earnings

Median completer debt against median graduate earnings, highest burden first.

Program

Median debt

Median earnings

Debt burden

Precision Systems Maintenance and Repair Technologies/Technicians

Associate Degree · Mechanic And Repair Technologies/Technicians

$15,829

$54,922

29%

Precision Systems Maintenance and Repair Technologies/Technicians

Associate Degree · Mechanic And Repair Technologies/Technicians

29%

$15,829 debt · $54,922 earn

Precision Systems Maintenance and Repair Technologies/Technicians

Undergraduate Certificate · Mechanic And Repair Technologies/Technicians

$7,321

$85,119

Precision Systems Maintenance and Repair Technologies/Technicians

Undergraduate Certificate · Mechanic And Repair Technologies/Technicians

$7,321 debt · $85,119 earn

Accreditation status & history

Who accredits the institution, current standing, and any past actions.

DAPIP

AccreditedInstitutional accreditor

Distance Education Accrediting Commission

Accredited since 2004Next review Jun 2028

Action history · 2

Jun 2023Renewal of Accreditation
Distance Education Accrediting Commission
Jun 2018Renewal of Accreditation
Distance Education Accrediting Commission

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education

Tuition & cost

What families actually pay, broken down by family income.

College Scorecard

Net price by family income

Aid exceeds costFamily pays

$0–30k$20,144

$0–30k

$20,144

$30–48k$20,584

$30–48k

$20,584

$48–75k$20,960

$48–75k

$20,960

$75–110k$23,603

$75–110k

$23,603

$110k+$25,204

$110k+

$25,204

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

Avg net price (private)

$20,678

-$8,060vs Special Focus Two-Year: Technical Professions median $28,738

Federal loans

27.8%

In-state tuition

$12,200

Out-of-state

$12,200

Federal aid volume & trends

Pell grants and federal Direct Loan volume disbursed to students, and how they've trended.

Federal Student Aid

In AY 2024–25, 2,689 students received $12.2M in Pell grants, alongside $13.0M in federal Direct Loans.

Pell recipients

2,689

AY 2024–25

Pell disbursed

$12.2M

$12,191,300 total

Direct Loans

$13.0M

3,338 loan awards

Pell recipients · 5-year trend

’20

’21

’22

’23

’24

Loan volume by type · AY 2024–25

Subsidized$5.3M

1,719 loan awards

Unsubsidized · UG$7.7M

1,619 loan awards

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.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education

Student loan default rate

The share of student borrowers who default on federal loans within three years, against the national benchmark.

Cohort Default Rate

Of 377 borrowers who entered repayment, 19 (5.0%) defaulted within three years — above the 2.3% national rate.

Default rate

5.0%

+2.7pp vs 2.3% national

Borrowers in repayment

377

Defaulted

Measurement window

3 years

Federal CDR standard

Default rate vs national, by cohort

2016

50.0%+40.7

2017

34.2%+25.0

2018

13.0%+6.0

2019

5.0%+2.7

2020*

0.0%

This institutionNational rate

* 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.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education

Academic programs at Sonoran Desert Institute

Top program areas ranked by completions.

IPEDS

Distinct CIP programs2

UndergraduateOffered

GraduateOffered

Top program families by completions

1,201 total completions

01Mechanic

1,201100.0%

01Mechanic

1,201100.0%

Enrollment trends & demographics

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

IPEDS

Fall total

5,437

12-mo unduplicated

8,618

Undergraduate

8,618

Graduate

Gender split

Men

97%8,385

Women

3%233

Race / ethnicity composition

White

71.3%

Hispanic

13.8%

Black

5.7%

Two or more

5.3%

Unknown

1.4%

American Indian / Alaska Native

1.1%

Asian

0.9%

Native Hawaiian / Pacific Islander

0.5%

Student-faculty ratio

Student-to-faculty ratio and instructional staff counts.

IPEDS

Student-to-faculty

32.0:1

Instructional staff (full-time equivalent)

Sonoran Desert Institute vs Peer comparison

The peer institutions Sonoran Desert Institute selected for federal comparison reporting.

IPEDS

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
SubjectSonoran Desert Institute	33%	—	5,437	$20,678	Special Focus Two-Year: Technical Professions
Universal Technical Institute of Arizona Inc	—	—	1,957	$30,451	Special Focus Two-Year: Technical Professions
Refrigeration School Inc	—	—	1,417	$27,025	Special Focus Two-Year: Technical Professions
Universal Technical Institute-Dallas Fort Worth	—	—	1,610	$26,265	Special Focus Two-Year: Technical Professions
Lincoln College of Technology-Grand Prairie	—	—	1,539	$33,250	Special Focus Two-Year: Technical Professions
Tulsa Welding School-Tulsa	—	—	892	$34,776	Special Focus Two-Year: Technical Professions
Peer group median	33%	—	1,575	$28,738

Institutions like Sonoran Desert Institute

Explore the federal data for institutions in Sonoran Desert Institute's comparison group.

IPEDS

Sonoran Desert Institute Institutional Research office

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

Team

2 members

Christi Okuma
Director of Institutional Effectiveness
Courtney Burns
Institutional Research Analyst

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?

Sonoran Desert Institute reports a 6-year graduation rate of 33% per the latest IPEDS.

How many students attend Sonoran Desert Institute?

Sonoran Desert Institute reports a total enrollment of 5,437 students per the latest IPEDS.

What is the average net price at Sonoran Desert Institute?

The average net price at Sonoran Desert Institute is $20,678 per the latest College Scorecard. Net price is the published cost of attendance minus grant aid.

Where is Sonoran Desert Institute located?

Sonoran Desert Institute is located in Tempe, Arizona 85281.

About the data on this page

Every figure comes from an official federal or public source. Here is each one and the release it is currently on.

IPEDS2025 provisional data (Fall 2025–26 release, July 28, 2026)

Enrollment, completions, graduation rates, tuition, financial aid, staffing, and finance for every U.S. institution in federal student aid programs.

National Center for Education Statistics, U.S. Department of Education

College ScorecardJune 10, 2026 release (merged 2025–26 files)

Institution and field-of-study costs, graduate earnings, debt, completion, and admissions outcomes compiled from federal aid records, tax data, and IPEDS.

U.S. Department of Education

FVT/GE program performanceProvisional preview, May 18, 2026 release

Program-level debt-to-earnings and earnings-premium measures behind the FVT/GE and STATS accountability frameworks.

U.S. Department of Education

DAPIP accreditationContinuously refreshed

Accreditation status for institutions and programs, reported by recognized accrediting agencies.

U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education

Federal Pell Grant volumeAY 2025–26 (through Q3), through March 31, 2026

Pell Grant recipient counts, award amounts, and disbursements by institution and award year.

U.S. Department of Education, Federal Student Aid

Federal student loan volumeAY 2025–26 (through Q3), through March 31, 2026

Federal Direct Loan recipient counts and disbursement volume by institution and award year.