See admissions data, costs, student outcomes, and academic programs, all verified from official US government sources.
New York, New York
Thinking about The Ailey School, a college in New York where more students graduate in Visual & Performing Arts than anything else? The four things worth knowing are what it actually costs after aid, whether you would get in, whether students finish, and what they earn after they do.
The Ailey School is a private nonprofit institution offering certificate degrees based in New York, New York. It enrolls 94 students (a very small, intimate student body), according to IPEDS 2023-24 data. Every figure on this page is reported by the federal government, not supplied by the college, so it can be compared like for like against anywhere else you are looking.
Official website: ailey.org
These four scores answer one question: compared with similar colleges, is this one worth the money? Each runs 0 to 100 and is judged only against its peer group (2-Year), so a community college is never marked down for not being Harvard. Everything is computed from federal data. Nobody can pay to move a score, and a pillar with missing data is left unscored rather than guessed.
The Ailey School admits 32.5% of applicants, which makes it genuinely competitive, so your application needs to be strong.
Acceptance rate over the last five admission cycles. The trend tells you whether The Ailey School is getting harder, easier, or staying about the same.
Ignore the sticker price. What matters is the net price, which is what a typical family pays here after grants and scholarships come off. At $35,855 a year on average, it sits above what private nonprofit colleges charge nationally. That is a serious number, so the earnings further down matter more here than usual. Figures are College Scorecard 2023-24.
The average hides a wide spread by household income, so it is worth estimating what a family at your income would actually pay before treating this as the price.
Published cost of attendance, the sticker price before grants and scholarships. Most students underestimate room & board and other expenses.
Application fee: $20 (one-time, due at submission)
Aid is need-based, so net price varies by family income. Here's what each bracket typically pays after grants and scholarships.
Cumulative federal-loan debt across the full borrowing distribution. The 10th and 90th percentiles bracket the typical range; the median sits in the middle.
90% come back after first year. Students who arrive tend to stay, which is usually a good sign. Source: IPEDS 2023-24.
Completion and earnings carry the most weight in this college's score, and how the UCD Score weighs each measure sets out exactly how they are combined.
Ten years after starting here, the median student earns $22,782 a year, below the national median. Weigh that against the cost above before taking on debt here. Source: College Scorecard 2023-24.
Median annual earnings 6, 8, and 10 years after students first enrolled.
Who you would actually be sitting next to: 94 students, an intimate, close-knit community.
Undergraduate student body composition reported to the US Department of Education.
Where students live, learn, and connect at The Ailey School. The campus setting, housing profile, and signals that shape day-to-day life here.
The Ailey School offers a focused set of programs: 1 distinct programs across 1 major. Below are its strongest majors, each with flagship programs and typical earnings. Open a major to explore it in depth, or browse the full program catalog.
There are 3 students for every instructor here: small classes, and staff who are likely to know your name.
No college is right for everyone. Here is where The Ailey School is likely to suit you and where it may not, based on the same figures shown above.
Read against a single profile these cut both ways, which is why it helps to put two colleges side by side on the same measures rather than judging one in isolation.
The questions families ask most about The Ailey School, answered straight from the federal data rather than from the college's own marketing.
One federal dataset, 3,811 colleges. The median school costs $16,296 a year, admits 78% of applicants, and enrolls 1,280 students. The shape of US higher ed.
Across 1,645 four-year colleges, graduation rates climb steadily with selectivity, from 54% at open-admission schools to 93% at the most exclusive. The gap is real.
For-profit colleges post the highest median net price of any sector and the lowest graduate earnings. They cost more than private nonprofits and pay less than publics.
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