College Viability Inspection Report

Kansas City Art Institute

Missouri · Private, not-for-profit

Kansas City Art Institute is a private, nonprofit institution in Missouri, enrolling 796 students as of 2024. It graduates 48% of students in four years, returns 78% of freshmen for a second year, and costs an average of $27,650 a year after grants and scholarships. Of the 9 inspection checks that could be evaluated, 2 are flagged: Retention and Tuition Allocation. This report benchmarks Kansas City Art Institute'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.

Kansas City Art Institute 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

Kansas City Art Institute — All Reported Indicators

Plain-text reference table of every metric and inspection flag for Kansas City Art Institute. 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 Rate48.0%-9.4%62nd
Six-Year Graduation Rate57.0%-6.6%53rd
Full-Time Retention Rate78.0%+20.0%54th
Pell Grant Six-Year Graduation Rate53.1%-8.5%60th
Pell-to-Non-Pell Graduation Gap9.0pp+906.8%50th
Pell Share of Cohort46.4%+0.2%65th

Financial Health

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Revenue-to-Expense Ratio1.27×+23.6%83rd
Total FTE Enrollment796+15.0%30th
Endowment Value$84.5M+21.0%61st
Net Assets (End of Year)$138.8M+7.5%59th

Value for Money

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Instructional Spending %36.7%-10.9%65th
Student Support Spending %12.2%-0.2%48th
Administrative Spending %26.3%+20.2%77th
Instruction+Support to Admin Ratio1.86×-23.9%26th
Average Net Price$27,650-6.5%81st
Net Price: $0-30K Income$26,293+4.3%92nd
Net Price: $30K-48K Income$25,105-7.3%89th
Net Price: $48-75K Income$27,663+0.2%91st
Net Price: $75K-110K Income$29,943-3.0%87th
Net Price: $110K+ Income$30,840-3.3%74th

Inspection Flags

FlagSectionStatus
Retention Below 80%
Kansas City Art Institute'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%
Kansas City Art Institute's 4-year graduation rate fell below 50% in 2 of 5 reported years — below the 3-of-5 trigger threshold.
Student OutcomesCleared
Pell Gap Exceeds 10 Points
Kansas City Art Institute's Pell graduation gap exceeded 10pp in 1 of 5 eligible years — below the 3-of-5 trigger threshold.
Student OutcomesCleared
Revenue-to-Expense Below 1.0
Kansas City Art Institute's ratio fell below 1.0 in 1 of 5 reported years — below the 3-of-5 trigger threshold.
Financial HealthCleared
Enrollment Declined 5% or More
Kansas City Art Institute's total enrollment grew from 692 to 796 students between 2020 and 2024 (+15.0%).
Financial HealthCleared
Endowment Under $50M or Growth Under 15%
Kansas City Art Institute's endowment is $84.5M and grew +21.0% between 2020 and 2024 — clearing both the $50 million size threshold and the 15% growth threshold.
Financial HealthCleared
High Cost, Low Completion
Kansas City Art Institute costs more than the national median but also graduates students at above-median rates — only one of two conditions is met.
Value for MoneyCleared
Spending on Students Below the National Median
Kansas City Art Institute spends $1.86 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
Either net price did not rise or the graduation rate did not decline between 2020 and 2024 — flag not triggered.
Value for MoneyCleared