by our College Data Analytics TeamCleveland Institute of Art is a private not-for-profit institution in Cleveland, Ohio enrolling 539 undergraduates. It accepts 61% of applicants and has an on-time graduation rate of 58%, above the national average of 33%. College Factual ranks it #1,700 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in its 2027 Best Colleges ranking (top 33%), and its Value for Your Money analysis rates it a Fair Price.
Source: IPEDS 2025; College Scorecard July 2026; College Factual rankings 2027. Data as of: July 2026.
Cleveland Institute of Art ranks #1,700 of 5,159 colleges nationwide in College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges ranking, placing it in the top 33%.
College Factual recognizes the best colleges and universities in its annual rankings. These rankings include categories for best overall colleges, best colleges for each major, best value schools, and much more.
CIA is ranked #1,700 out of 5,159 schools in the nation for overall quality on College Factual’s 2027 Best Colleges list.
CIA also holds the #64 spot on the Best Colleges in Ohio ranking.
See all of the rankings for Cleveland Institute of Art.
Cleveland Institute of Art has an acceptance rate of 61%, which means the school is serious about who it admits. Take your time in putting together a strong application that highlights why you are a good fit for CIA.
About 17% of students accepted to CIA submitted their SAT scores. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, SAT Evidence-Based Reading and Writing scores ranged between 500 and 660. Math scores were between 480 and 620.
CIA received ACT scores from 13% of accepted students. When looking at the 25th through the 75th percentile, ACT Composite scores ranged between 23 and 29.
Learn more about Cleveland Institute of Art admissions.
At CIA, the student to faculty ratio is an excellent 9 to 1. That’s much better than the national average of 15 to 1. This indicates that many classes will probably be small, and students will have ample opportunities to work closely with their professors and classmates.
Another measure that is often used to estimate how much access students will have to their professors is how many faculty members are full-time. The idea here is that part-time faculty tend to spend less time on campus, so they may not be as available to students as full-timers.
The full-time faculty percentage at Cleveland Institute of Art is 47%. This is comparable to the national average of 47%.
The freshmen retention rate of 88% tells us that most first-year, full-time students like Cleveland Institute of Art enough to come back for another year. This is a fair bit higher than the national average of 68%. That’s certainly something to check off in the good column about the school.
The on-time graduation rate for someone pursuing a bachelor’s degree is typically four years. This rate at CIA for first-time, full-time students is 58%, which is better than the national average of 33.3%.
Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Cleveland Institute of Art.
The current enrollment includes 539 undergraduates at CIA.
Get more detailed information on the diversity at Cleveland Institute of Art.
The typical net cost at CIA is $17,140. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group. See the table below for the net price for different income groups.
| $0-30 K | $30K-48K | $48-75 | $75-110K | $110K + |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| $23,423 | $24,992 | $26,654 | $30,518 | $37,436 |
The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid. Note that the net price is typically less than the published price for a school. For more information on the sticker price of CIA, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.
It’s not uncommon for college students to take out loans to pay for school. In fact, almost 66% of students nationwide depend at least partially on loans. At CIA, approximately 79% of students took out student loans averaging $7,327 a year. That adds up to $29,308 over four years for those students. The student loan default rate is 2.4%. This is significantly lower than the national default rate of 10.1%, which is a good sign that you’ll be able to pay back your student loans. Get more details about paying for Cleveland Institute of Art.
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor’s degree from Cleveland Institute of Art make about $42,509 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. Unfortunately, this is 14% less than the average college graduate’s salary of $49,219 per year. However, graduates in your major field may make more.
See which majors at Cleveland Institute of Art make the most money.
Cleveland Institute of Art is an private not-for-profit institution found in Cleveland, Ohio. The location of the school is great for students who enjoy the amenities of city life. Get more details about the location of Cleveland Institute of Art.
Contact details for Cleveland Institute of Art are listed below.
| Contact Details | |
|---|---|
| Address: | 11610 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, OH 44106-1710 |
| Phone: | 2164217000 |
| Website: | www.cia.edu |
| Facebook: | www.facebook.com/ciacollege |
| Twitter: | twitter.com/cleinstituteart |
In the latest year of available data, students from 4 majors graduated from Cleveland Institute of Art. The following table lists the most popular undergraduate majors along with the average salary graduates from those majors make.
| Most Popular Majors | Completions | Average Salary of Graduates |
|---|---|---|
| Multi-Disciplinary Studies | 102 | NA |
| Design & Applied Arts | 59 | $29,035 |
| Graphic Communications | 20 | NA |
| Fine & Studio Arts | 15 | $18,508 |
| Medical Illustration & Informatics | 6 | NA |
| Film, Video & Photographic Arts | 2 | NA |
18 students took at least one online class at Cleveland Institute of Art.
Online courses are a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.
Learn more about online learning at Cleveland Institute of Art.
Curious how schools stack up against CIA? Match them up using College Combat, our free tool for head-to-head college comparisons.
Footnotes
*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.
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