College Viability Inspection Report

Central Baptist College

Arkansas · Private, not-for-profit

Central Baptist College is a private, nonprofit institution in Arkansas, enrolling 487 students as of 2024. It graduates 18% of students in four years, returns 63% of freshmen for a second year, and costs an average of $17,469 a year after grants and scholarships. Of the 8 inspection checks that could be evaluated, 7 are flagged: Retention, Graduation, Revenue to Expenses, Enrollment, Endowment, Tuition Allocation, and Price vs. Outcomes. This report benchmarks Central Baptist College's most recent reported year (2024) against 2,000+ U.S. colleges across three dimensions: student outcomes, financial health, and value for money. All figures are drawn from federal IPEDS filings and are reported without editorial judgment.

Data note: The U.S. Department of Education's IPEDS database did not include every reported figure for Central Baptist College between 2020 and 2024. 1 inspection flag could not be evaluated for lack of data — affected indicators are tagged below; missing years are shown as gaps in trend charts rather than estimated.

Central Baptist College Inspection Flags

Student Outcomes
Financial Health
Value for Your Money

Inspection flags are nine independent checks across student outcomes, financial health, and cost-to-value that surface areas of a college's reported numbers worth a closer look. A triggered flag means the college's data met a specific threshold that students and families may want to ask about — for example, graduation rates slipping below a level, or tuition rising while outcomes decline. A clear flag means the threshold was not met. Flags are signals for further conversation, not verdicts.

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College Viability
Data Summary

Central Baptist College — All Reported Indicators

Plain-text reference table of every metric and inspection flag for Central Baptist College. Values reflect IPEDS-reported figures; percent changes reflect endpoint-to-endpoint 2020 → 2024 comparison; percentiles reflect 2024 national rank against four-year public and private nonprofit institutions. Cells marked "not reported" indicate the indicator was not present in IPEDS for this institution.

Student Outcomes

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Four-Year Graduation Rate18.0%+800.0%17th
Six-Year Graduation Rate19.0%-52.5%7th
Full-Time Retention Rate63.0%+10.5%17th
Pell Grant Six-Year Graduation Rate15.9%-53.6%8th
Pell-to-Non-Pell Graduation Gap43.0pp+188.9%98th
Pell Share of Cohort55.2%+70.8%78th

Financial Health

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Revenue-to-Expense Ratio1.06×+17.4%46th
Total FTE Enrollment487-20.8%21st
Endowment Value$4.5M+23.0%12th
Net Assets (End of Year)$14.7M-17.8%20th

Value for Money

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Instructional Spending %19.3%-14.1%10th
Student Support Spending %8.3%-9.3%29th
Administrative Spending %31.8%-18.9%86th
Instruction+Support to Admin Ratio0.87×+7.7%6th
Average Net Price$17,469+12.4%44th
Net Price: $0-30K Income$11,750-20.9%39th
Net Price: $30K-48K Income$12,659-9.6%42nd
Net Price: $48-75K Income$12,067-12.7%26th
Net Price: $75K-110K Income$14,382-16.8%20th
Net Price: $110K+ Income$11,408-42.5%4th

Inspection Flags

FlagSectionStatus
Retention Below 80%
Central Baptist College's retention rate fell below 80% in 5 of 5 reported years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold.
Student OutcomesTriggered
Four-Year Graduation Rate Below 50%
Central Baptist College's 4-year graduation rate fell below 50% in 5 of 5 reported years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold.
Student OutcomesTriggered
Pell Gap Exceeds 10 Points
Not enough reported data for this flag — only 1 of 5 years had a Pell cohort of 50+ students.
Student OutcomesNot Evaluated
Revenue-to-Expense Below 1.0
Central Baptist College's revenue-to-expense ratio fell below 1.0 in 3 of 5 reported years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold. 2024: 1.06×.
Financial HealthTriggered
Enrollment Declined 5% or More
Central Baptist College's total enrollment fell from 615 to 487 students between 2020 and 2024 (-20.8%) — a decline of 5% or more.
Financial HealthTriggered
Endowment Under $50M or Growth Under 15%
Central Baptist College's endowment is $4.5M, under the $50 million threshold. A smaller endowment leaves less cushion for scholarships and for tough budget years, even though it grew +23.0% over the period.
Financial HealthTriggered
High Cost, Low Completion
Central Baptist College costs less than the national median AND graduates students at below-median rates — only one of two conditions is met.
Value for MoneyCleared
Spending on Students Below the National Median
Central Baptist College spends $0.87 on instruction and student support per $1 of admin (2024) — below the national median of $2.75 in 5 of 5 reported years.
Value for MoneyTriggered
Rising Price, Falling Outcomes
Both conditions were met: Central Baptist College's net price rose while the 6-year graduation rate declined between 2020 and 2024 — a prompt to ask whether tuition increases are translating into stronger student outcomes.
Value for MoneyTriggered