College of the Desert Data & Information Overview

Find out more about how College of the Desert ranks, how diverse it is, what majors it offers, and other essential facts below. All you need to do to learn more about a stat is click on its tile, and you’ll be taken to another page that analyzes that data more closely. Also, you can use the links below to scroll to any section of 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?

2023 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 2023 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is substance abuse/addiction counseling.

Overall Quality

College of the Desert landed the #1,604 spot in College Factual's 2023 ranking of best overall colleges in the United States. The higher ed experts analyzed 2,241 colleges and universities across the nation to determine this ranking.

College of the Desert also holds the #148 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 34%. 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 $12,571. 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 17.8%. 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 $37,541 per year during the early years of their employment. This is about 12% 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.

Location of College of the Desert

Located in Palm Desert, California, College of the Desert is a public institution. 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.