College of the Desert Data & Information Overview

Want the scoop on College of the Desert? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors College of the Desert offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more. Want to know more about a specific stat? Just click on its tile, and you’ll go to a page that goes more in-depth on that subject. You can also use the links below to go directly to any section on this page.

• Rankings
• Admission and Acceptance
• Faculty
• Retention and Graduation Rates
• Diversity
• Cost
• Student Debt
• Average Earnings
• Location
• Majors
• Online Learning

How Well Is College of the Desert Ranked?

2022 Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

College of the Desert was awarded 103 badges in the 2022 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is nursing.

Overall Quality

College of the Desert landed the #1,410 spot in College Factual's 2022 ranking of best overall colleges in the United States. The higher ed experts analyzed 2,576 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking.

College of the Desert also holds the #159 spot on the Best Colleges in California ranking.

See all of the rankings for College of the Desert.

Is It Hard to Get Into College of the Desert?

Acceptance Rate

If you are worried about getting into College of the Desert, don't be. The school has a liberal open admissions policy, which means you only need to meet basic requirements in order to be admitted. Still, be sure to submit a complete application and provide any other requested materials.

Learn more about College of the Desert admissions.

College of the Desert Faculty

Student to Faculty Ratio

At College of the Desert, the student to faculty ratio is 30 to 1. Compared to the national average of 15 to 1, this is somewhat high. This could mean that class sizes may be larger than they are at other colleges or universities or that professors may be required to teach more classes.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at College of the Desert is 27%. This is lower than the national average of 47%.

Retention and Graduation Rates at College of the Desert

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate tells us what percentage of first-year, full-time students choose to continue on to their sophomore year at a particular school. The rate at College of the Desert is 68%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at College of the Desert.

College of the Desert Undergraduate Student Diversity

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 10,932 undergraduates at College of the Desert with 4,197 being full-time and 6,735 being part-time.

How Much Does College of the Desert Cost?

The overall average net price of College of the Desert is $9,654. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

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 for a school. For more information on the sticker price of College of the Desert, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

The student loan default rate at College of the Desert is 20.4%. Watch out! This is significantly higher than the national default rate of 10.1%, which means you could have trouble paying back your student loans if you take any out.

Get more details about paying for College of the Desert.

How Much Money Do College of the Desert Graduates Make?

Yearly salaries vary depending on what you major in, but on average, bachelor's degree recipients from College of the Desert make around $30,600 per year during the early years of their employment. This is about 23% less that the average pay for college graduates overall. However, graduates with your major may make more.

See which majors at College of the Desert make the most money.

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Location of College of the Desert

College of the Desert is a public institution located in Palm Desert, California. Palm Desert is a great location for students who prefer city over country life.

Get more details about the location of College of the Desert.

Contact details for College of the Desert are given below.

	Contact Details
Address:	43-500 Monterey Ave, Palm Desert, CA 92260
Phone:	760-346-8041
Website:	www.collegeofthedesert.edu/

College of the Desert Majors

Learn more about the majors offered at College of the Desert along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at College of the Desert

Online courses area 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.

In 2019-2020, 10,909 students took at least one online class at College of the Desert. This is an increase from the 3,514 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year	Took at Least One Online Class	Took All Classes Online
2019-2020	10,909	10,522
2018-2019	3,514	919
2017-2018	3,132	798
2016-2017	2,695	646
2015-2016	2,728	642

Learn more about online learning at College of the Desert.

Notes and References

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.

References

• National Center for Education Statistics
• College Scorecard
• Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System

More about our data sources and methodologies.