🎓 College profile
Columbia College Chicago
IL · Private nonprofit · Large city · 7,873 applicants 2023
🎯 Parent/student verdict
LikelyAccessible for most applicants.
✅ Best for
- Students focused on Visual & Performing Arts (the school's signature program)
Verdict is composed from this college's structured data (admit rate, SAT bands, net price by income, Carnegie classification, scholarship grids) using transparent rule thresholds — not a chat-bot's opinion.
🏛️ Institutional snapshot
What kind of college is this?
Source: federal IPEDS Admissions 2023 for scores + admit rate; federal College Scorecard (20260606 vintage) for earnings + outcomes. SAT/ACT bands are the 25th–75th percentile of enrolled submitters.
📊 Outcomes & cost
What graduates actually earn, finish, and owe.
Federal College Scorecard data. Earnings are median annual income measured years after entering. Debt is for federal-aid borrowers only (cash-pay students aren't counted).
💰 True ROI
4.0× returnWhat families actually pay (after aid) vs. the sticker — and how 10-yr earnings stack against the real cost. Most sites quote sticker; we quote what families really pay.
"True ROI" = (10-yr median earnings × 10) ÷ (actual 4-yr net price). The actual net is from Scorecard (average across all families); your family's net price will vary by income — see the breakdown above. Earnings are 10 years after enrollment (Scorecard PP-FOS, all majors combined).
💰 What families actually pay
Net price by family income
Net price = sticker price minus grant aid. This is what families actually pay out-of-pocket after scholarships and need-based aid — the most honest affordability signal there is. At Columbia College Chicago, the average net price is $26,598/yr across all families.
🔎 Earning over $110K? The federal brackets above lump every family from $110K to $1M+ into one row.
Need-based aid usually phases out somewhere between $200K and $300K at private colleges — but the exact threshold varies a lot. For a precise estimate based on your family's actual income, assets, and your student's academic profile, use Columbia College Chicago's official Net Price Calculator:
Get your family's estimate from Columbia College Chicago →Opens on Columbia College Chicago's site. Takes about 10–15 minutes; have your most recent tax return handy.
Source: College Scorecard (NPT41-NPT45). Net price = total cost of attendance minus federal, state, institutional, and other grants. Some brackets may be suppressed for student-privacy reasons (small cohorts). Title IV first-time, full-time undergraduates only. The $110K+ ceiling is a federal data limitation — Department of Education hasn't refreshed these brackets since the early 2010s.
📚 What students study here
Most popular majors at Columbia College Chicago
Top 5 fields of study by bachelor's degrees awarded (most recent IPEDS Completions). Use this to see what Columbia College Chicago actually graduates — not just what it markets.
Source: IPEDS Completions (C2023_a), bachelor's-level first majors aggregated to 2-digit CIP family. Share is of these top 5 only — not all majors.
💼 Top programs by earnings
Highest-earning majors at Columbia College Chicago
Median earnings 4 years after entry, by major (CIP code). From the federal College Scorecard program-level outcomes.
| Major (CIP) | Credential | Cohort | 1-yr earnings | 4-yr earnings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Public Relations, Advertising, and Applied Communication. | Bachelor's Degree | 28 | $39,794 | $66,798 |
| Marketing. | Bachelor's Degree | 33 | $36,386 | $65,686 |
| Business Administration, Management and Operations. | Bachelor's Degree | 3 | $34,798 | $56,482 |
| Radio, Television, and Digital Communication. | Bachelor's Degree | 54 | $24,191 | $54,357 |
| Journalism. | Bachelor's Degree | 25 | $31,369 | $51,639 |
| Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management. | Bachelor's Degree | 87 | $23,844 | $50,592 |
| Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other. | Bachelor's Degree | 11 | $25,999 | $49,593 |
| Design and Applied Arts. | Bachelor's Degree | 239 | $29,630 | $48,601 |
| American Sign Language. | Bachelor's Degree | 23 | $33,775 | $45,619 |
| Ethnic, Cultural Minority, Gender, and Group Studies. | Bachelor's Degree | 5 | — | $44,703 |
For full college-vs-major comparison + ROI leaderboards, see /college-outcomes →
⚖️ Compare side-by-side
Columbia College Chicago vs. another college
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