Ringling College of Art and Design logo

Ringling College of Art and Design

Sarasota, FL

Ringling College of Art and Design is a private art, music and design school in Sarasota, Florida, a small city, with 1,662 undergraduates. The arts and communications technology are its signature fields: together they make up 98% of its bachelor's degrees, about 19 times their share across the colleges we cover. 72% of students finish within six years, and former students who are working earn a median of $43,325 ten years after starting.

Ringling College of Art and Design admitted 1,809 of 2,685 applicants for the fall 2023 entering class (67.4%).

Acceptance rate
67.4%
Fall 2023 class
Tuition and fees
$57,900
2024–25 school year
Paid after aid
$57,742
Average, students with aid

Every figure on this page is published by the college or a federal survey, compiled by GoodGoblin, and carries the source it came from. They describe the fall 2023 entering class, a read on the school, not a prediction about any one applicant.

What Ringling College of Art and Design is known for

Measured by the 374 bachelor's degrees it awarded in 2022–23, and what its graduates went on to earn.

The arts

65.2%

of its bachelor's degrees: about 13 times the 4.9% share across the colleges we cover.

Communications technology

33.2%

of its bachelor's degrees: about 166 times the 0.2% share across the colleges we cover.

  • Graphic Communications12433.2% of degrees$75,213+74% vs $43,283 nationally
  • Design and Applied Arts12433.2% of degrees$47,937−7% vs $51,490 nationally
  • Fine and Studio Arts7319.5% of degrees$36,346−12% vs $41,367 nationally
  • Film/Video and Photographic Arts246.4% of degrees$41,024−6% vs $43,765 nationally
  • Arts, Entertainment, and Media Management123.2% of degreesToo few graduates to publish
  • Drama/Theatre Arts and Stagecraft112.9% of degreesToo few graduates to publish

Source: the College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), field-of-study data. Degrees are bachelor's degrees awarded in 2022–23. Earnings are the median for 2017–18 and 2018–19 graduates, in 2024 dollars, working and not enrolled, four years after graduating. Shares across the colleges we cover count every bachelor's degree at the colleges with a page here.

The place

Where it is, how big it is, and how students live.

Setting

Small city

Sarasota, FL

Undergraduates

1,662

Fall 2024

Type

Private, nonprofit

Special focus: arts, music and design

Living on campus

Half or more

of undergraduates live on campus

Students per faculty member

11 to 1

Fall 2024

International students

21%

of undergraduates, fall 2024

Source: the College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education), including the Carnegie Classification and the federal locale code it publishes.

What stands out at Ringling College of Art and Design

Two things Ringling College of Art and Design published, ranked by how much each could change what you actually do, not by how impressive it looks. Every one describes a class that has already enrolled.

Test policy1 of 2

Ringling College of Art and Design reports that test scores are not considered at all.

That is the school’s own answer on the form it fills in every year. A score you send is not read as part of the decision here.

Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023

Cost2 of 2

Families paid $57,742 on average after aid.

Averaged across students who received federal aid: the price after grants and scholarships, not the sticker price.

Source: the College Scorecard

Every figure, in full

The same measured fields on every one of these pages. Nothing is filled in where the school published nothing.

Acceptance rate

67.4%

1,809 admitted of 2,685 applicants

Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023

Where do you actually stand at Ringling College of Art and Design?

The figures on this page describe a class that already enrolled. GoodGoblin reads them against your own transcript, scores, activities and budget, then builds the balanced list, the essay plan and the deadline calendar around what it finds.

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What Ringling College of Art and Design costs

The published price first, then what students who received aid actually paid, by family income.

Tuition and fees for 2024–25 were $57,900, and the full cost of attendance, with housing, food and books, was $80,276. After grants and scholarships, students who received financial aid paid $57,742 a year on average.

Tuition and fees

$57,900

2024–25 school year

Full cost of attendance

$80,276

Tuition, fees, housing, food and books

Paid after aid

$57,742

Average, students who received aid

What students paid, by family income

Each bar is that figure as a share of the $80,276 full cost.

  • Under $30k$47,261Typical public university: $10,013
  • $30k–$48k$48,213Typical public university: $10,847
  • $48k–$75k$55,121Typical public university: $13,703
  • $75k–$110k$59,265Typical public university: $17,979
  • Over $110k$62,609Typical public university: $22,475

Source: the federal College Scorecard. Tuition and cost of attendance are for the 2024–25 school year; colleges usually raise them each year. What students paid is the average net price for first-year students who received federal financial aid. Typical public university: the median across the 338 public universities on GoodGoblin, for in-state students, compiled by GoodGoblin from the same federal data.

Where it leads

Who finishes, who stays, and what they earn and owe afterwards.

Finish within six years

72%

Our colleges' median: 63%

Return for a second year

86%

Our colleges' median: 79%

Earnings after 10 years

$43,325

Our colleges' median: $57,440

Median debt at graduation

$27,000

Our colleges' median: $23,725

Source: the College Scorecard (U.S. Department of Education). Six-year completion describes students who started in fall 2018; second-year return describes students who started in fall 2023; earnings describe students who started in 2009–10 and 2010–11, measured in 2020 and 2021, in 2022 dollars; debt describes federal loans of students who graduated in fiscal years 2020 and 2021. Medians are across the 1,034 colleges with a page here.

What Ringling College of Art and Design says it weighs

The school's own words, from the form it fills in every year. Ranked as it ranks them.

  • Essayrequired

    Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023

  • Course rigorrequired

    Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023

  • GPArequired

    Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023

  • Recommendationsrequired

    Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023

Not considered

  • Test scores

    Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023

  • Class rank

    Source: the federal IPEDS survey, fall 2023

Published deadlines

Each date is read from the college's own materials and re-checked on a schedule.

  • Early DecisionNovember 1, 2026

    Verified October 10, 2026 · Source

  • Regular DecisionJanuary 15, 2027

    Verified July 17, 2026 · Source

  • Rolling AdmissionJuly 1, 2027

    Verified July 17, 2026

More colleges on the record

Each of these pages carries the same measured figures and sources.

Build the list this school belongs on.

The figures on this page describe a class that already enrolled. GoodGoblin reads them against your own transcript, scores, activities and budget, then builds the balanced list, the essay plan and the deadline calendar around what it finds.

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