VanderCook College of Music: graduation rate, earnings after enrolling, cost & admissions

Who enrolls (fall 2024, all 323 students)

By gender

By race and ethnicity

Online learning

Undergraduates: 107 (43% women) · Graduate students: 216 (58% women)

From the IPEDS Fall Enrollment (EF) survey, fall 2024 headcount of all enrolled students. IPEDS reports gender as men and women and race and ethnicity in federal categories; nonresident students are not classified by race. Online learning counts students taking distance-education courses in fall 2024 (IPEDS Fall Enrollment, distance education). These figures describe who enrolls, not how any group fares at the school. The Department of Education has not endorsed MajorPays' presentation.

Over the 2023-24 year, 1,015 different students were enrolled at some point. Source: NCES IPEDS 12-month Enrollment, 2023-24 (every student enrolled at any time during the year, counted once; high school students are counted in the total; provisional data). A count of people enrolled, not a measure of quality.

Who attends and how they fare

From the U.S. Dept. of Education College Scorecard (Creative Commons Attribution), most recent release. Retention is the share of first-time, full-time students who return the next fall. First-generation share and median family income describe students who received federal aid. Repayment is the share of student borrowers who had repaid at least $1 of their loan principal within three years of entering repayment, not the share who paid in full. MajorPays has selected and reorganized these figures; the Department of Education has not endorsed them.

Campus and admissions policies

Offered: Job placement for graduates

From the IPEDS Institutional Characteristics survey (2024-25 collection, provisional; housing, meal plan and application fee from the Cost component). Open admission means the school admits students without selective criteria for most programs. Services and opportunities are those the school reported offering. The Department of Education has not endorsed MajorPays’ presentation.

How old students are (fall 2023)

Undergraduates

Graduate students

From the IPEDS Fall Enrollment survey (enrollment by age, fall 2023; the age component is collected in full only in odd years, so some schools show fall 2023), U.S. Dept. of Education, NCES; students of unknown age are left out and levels with fewer than 30 students are not shown. Undergraduates under 20 can include high school students taking college courses. The counts describe who enrolls, and the Department of Education has not endorsed the MajorPays presentation.

Who earns degrees here (degrees awarded 2023-24)

From the IPEDS Completions survey (awards and degrees conferred, academic year 2023-24, provisional release that includes estimates for institutions that did not respond), U.S. Dept. of Education, NCES; first majors only, so a graduate with two majors is counted once. Levels with fewer than 30 degrees, and race and ethnicity groups with fewer than 5 degrees, are not shown. IPEDS reports gender as men and women and race and ethnicity in federal categories; nonresident students are not classified by race. These counts describe who earns degrees here, not how any group fares, and MajorPays does not rank institutions and does not provide advice. The Department of Education has not endorsed the MajorPays presentation.

What is studied here (degrees awarded 2023-24, by broad field; the largest fields at each level)

Master's degrees (37 awarded)

From the IPEDS Completions survey (degrees conferred July 2023 to June 2024, first majors only, provisional release that includes estimates for institutions that did not respond), U.S. Dept. of Education, NCES, grouped by the 2-digit field families of the Classification of Instructional Programs 2020. A level is shown only when at least 30 degrees were awarded, and fields with fewer than 5 degrees are included only in "All other fields". Degrees awarded are counts of awards, not of people, and say nothing about the quality of a program. MajorPays does not rank institutions or programs and does not provide advice. The Department of Education has not endorsed the MajorPays presentation.

Where the money goes (expenses, 2023-24)

From the IPEDS Finance survey (2023-24; forms F1A, F2 or F3 depending on the accounting standard the institution follows) and IPEDS 12-month enrollment (full-time-equivalent students), U.S. Dept. of Education, NCES. Shares are each function as a share of total expenses. Some institutions report finances for several campuses together (their students are added together here), and some values are estimates for institutions that did not report. Institutions with hospitals, large research programs or auxiliary enterprises spend much of their money outside instruction, and accounting rules differ between public and private institutions, so figures are not directly comparable between institutions. Spending is not a measure of quality. MajorPays does not rank institutions and does not provide advice. The Department of Education has not endorsed the MajorPays presentation.

Who works here (staff in full-time equivalents, fall 2024)

From the IPEDS Human Resources survey (full-time-equivalent staff by occupational category, fall 2024), U.S. Dept. of Education, NCES. Full-time-equivalent staff count each part-time employee as one third of a full-time one; counts include medical school staff where the institution has one but not graduate assistants. Institutions with hospitals, research centers or athletic programs employ many people outside teaching, and some campuses report together (figures for child campuses are estimates allocated from the parent), so counts are not directly comparable between institutions. MajorPays does not rank institutions and does not provide advice. The Department of Education has not endorsed the MajorPays presentation.

Acceptance rate is admitted ÷ applicants; yield rate is enrolled ÷ admitted. Graduation rate is completers within 150% of normal program time ÷ the adjusted cohort size. From IPEDS Admissions (ADM), Graduation Rates (GR), and Fall Enrollment (EF) survey components. Completion within 8 years is from the IPEDS Outcome Measures (OM) component: the share of degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates who started in 2016-17 and earned any award from this school within eight years, counting part-time and transfer-in students that the standard graduation rate leaves out; the Department of Education has not endorsed MajorPays' presentation.

Median earnings 10 years after entry, by gender

Earnings differ by gender for many reasons besides the school, such as the fields students choose and the jobs they take. From the College Scorecard; students who received federal aid and were working and not enrolled.

Share earning more than a typical high school graduate

From the U.S. Dept. of Education’s College Scorecard: the share of students who received federal aid and were working and not enrolled who earned more than the Department’s threshold for a typical high school graduate, measured 6, 8 and 10 years after they first enrolled (students who entered about 2013 to 2015 for the 6-year figure and about 2009 to 2011 for the 10-year figure; see the Scorecard data documentation for how the threshold is set). It is a share of students, not a measure of how much they earn, and it depends heavily on who enrolls and where they live. MajorPays does not rank schools. The Department has not endorsed the MajorPays presentation.

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, College Scorecard (institution-level data, June 2026 release), licensed under Creative Commons Attribution. MajorPays has selected and reorganized these measures; the Department has not endorsed them. Earnings are for students who received federal financial aid and were working and not enrolled 6, 8 and 10 years after first entering the school; family income groups are thirds of students' reported family income. Repayment shows undergraduate federal loan borrowers by status after entering repayment (deferment and forbearance are combined). The monthly amount on the debt card is the Department's calculation of a standard 10-year payment at 4.99% interest on the median federal debt of students who completed; actual payments depend on the repayment plan. A dash means the value is not published, often because too few students were in the group.

Earnings and debt by program

Bachelor's degrees

Source: U.S. Dept. of Education, College Scorecard Field of Study data (June 2026 release; Creative Commons Attribution license; MajorPays selected and reorganized the figures). Earnings are the median for graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school, 1 year after finishing (graduates of 2018-19 and 2019-20, in 2022 dollars) and 4 years after (graduates of 2014-15 and 2015-16, in 2021 dollars); debt is the median federal Stafford and Grad PLUS loan debt of graduates who borrowed, including loans taken at other schools (Parent PLUS and private loans are not included; graduates of 2018-19 and 2019-20). A dash means the Department did not publish the figure, usually because the group was small. The counts of degrees awarded are awards in 2020-21, a different year from the graduates measured for earnings and debt, and are awards, not people. Programs are grouped by the Department’s four-digit program codes, listed alphabetically within each degree level, not ranked. Earnings and debt differ for many reasons besides the program, such as the students’ backgrounds and the local job market, and the earlier cohorts predate recent changes. The Department of Education has not endorsed the MajorPays presentation. MajorPays does not provide advice.

Net price by family income (average price after grants and scholarships)

Net price by family income is the average price after grants and scholarships for first-time, full-time undergraduates who received federal aid, by family income bracket (College Scorecard, most recent year). Brackets with few students can look out of order; read them as rough guides.

Tuition & fees is the institution's published sticker price; net price is the average price after grants and scholarships for first-time, full-time undergraduates receiving aid (lags tuition by one year in CATC's own reporting).

Cost of attendance adds the school’s published charges for tuition and fees (in-state), books and supplies, room and board, and other expenses for a full-time undergraduate in 2024-25 (provisional data). It is a sticker total, not what a student pays after grants and scholarships. From the NCES IPEDS Cost component (2024-25 data are provisional); the Department of Education has not endorsed MajorPays' presentation.

Cohort is full-time, first-time undergraduates (a typical incoming class), not the whole student body. Pell grants are federal need-based grants for lower-income students; federal grants also includes Pell. Averages are among students who received that type of aid.

Links from the school

Admissions office · How to apply · Financial aid office · Net price calculator · Veterans’ benefits

Web addresses the school itself reported to the U.S. Dept. of Education (IPEDS directory, 2024-25). MajorPays does not control these sites and cannot vouch for them; the addresses may be out of date. Always check the school’s own site for current prices and deadlines. MajorPays does not provide advice.

Reported as a private nonprofit institution, FASB accounting standard. Core revenue/expense are total operating figures (not per-student). Equity ratio is the share of total assets financed by equity rather than debt (shown only between -100% and 100%; what is typical varies a lot by sector, and this is not a judgment of the institution). From IPEDS Finance survey component.

Average salary is equated to a 9-month contract for full-time instructional staff. FTE (full-time equivalent) staff counts combine full- and part-time staff into a single comparable headcount. From IPEDS Human Resources survey component.