American College of Acupuncture and Oriental Med

Private for-profitSpecial Focus: Other Health ProfessionsGraduate/Professional

Fin. Resilience

Resilience score

vs. 95 peers in its group

American College of Acupuncture and Oriental Med is a private for-profit institution in Houston, TX, classified by Carnegie as “Special Focus: Other Health Professions.”

It is benchmarked here against 95 peer institutions (Special Focus: Other Health Professions · Private for-profit).

On Ibex's Financial Resilience score it rates 41 out of 100 within that peer group, a transparent composite of endowment per undergraduate, net tuition revenue per student, and instructional spend per student.

Its strongest standing relative to peers is 3-yr cohort default rate (0%, 5th percentile).

Its weakest is enrollment loss before deficit (0%).

Peer group

Special Focus: Other Health Professions · Private for-profit

95 institutions

No cross-metric risk flags triggered.

What changedlargest year-over-year moves

Instructional spend / FTE ▲ +5% $6,520 → $6,826 2023→2024

Net tuition revenue / FTE ▼ -4% $13,009 → $12,444 2023→2024

Most recent single-year change in each tracked metric. Green = moved in this metric’s favorable direction, red = unfavorable, grey = size or context, not scored. Each row uses the latest pair of years that metric has, and federal collections release on different schedules, so the years differ from row to row: read the years on the row, not just the ranking. A single year is also not a trend, the multi-year series is on each metric’s card below.

Policy & demographic exposure

How exposed American College of Acupuncture and Oriental Med is to the structural shifts reshaping higher ed: a composite structural-risk index plus the 2025 federal budget law’s endowment excise tax, Grad PLUS elimination, new Parent PLUS borrowing cap and new Workforce Pell short-term-credential opportunity, and the demographic enrollment cliff. Only signals that apply to this institution are shown.

Structural risk index

Elevated

Grad PLUS exposure

5.2%

Low exposure

Higher than 20% of schools nationally

AY2025-26 YTD (through Q2, Dec 2025)

Avg Grad PLUS loan

$11,000

Half the cap+

Higher than 16% of schools nationally

AY2025-26 YTD (through Q2, Dec 2025)

Enrollment cliff (home state)

1.6%

Stable or growing

Indicative signals, not forecasts, see each metric’s definition and the methodology. Endowment-tax, Grad PLUS, Parent PLUS and Workforce Pell figures appear only where the institution is actually exposed; “nationally” compares against all schools that report each signal.

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Enrollment shock

What an enrollment loss would do to the budget

Tuition and fees fund 70% of this institution’s revenue, and it runs a -1.4% operating margin. It is already spending more than it takes in, so there is no cushion to lose.

Enrollment loss: 10%

-9.0% operating margin after the loss, with costs unchanged

A deliberately simple counterfactual: net tuition per student and total costs stay where the latest IPEDS finance filing put them, so only the tuition line moves. No institution facing this would hold costs flat, which is the point, the figure is the gap that would have to be closed, not a forecast of the margin it would report. A school that responds by discounting harder to hold headcount converts the same problem into a net-price one, and it does not show up here.

Revenue composition

Where the money comes from $1.6M total revenue · IPEDS FY2022-23

Tuition & fees is the largest single source at 70% of revenue.

Tuition & fees70.4%

Other revenue29.1%

Auxiliary enterprises0.5%

Where each dollar of revenue comes from, as a share of total positive revenue. Sources are standardized across public (GASB) and private (FASB) reporting; a net investment loss in a down market is shown as 0% and excluded from the mix.

Financial Health

The bar under each rank is the spread across the peer group: the shaded box is the middle half, the pale line is their median, and the gold marker is this institution. Hover for the figures.

Net tuition revenue / FTECalculated from filings

Below peers

$12,444

18th percentile in peer grouppeer median $17,600

higher is better

2024-25 (Scorecard)95 peers

▲ +33% steady · turning

Instructional spend / FTECalculated from filings

Average

$6,826

64th percentile in peer grouppeer median $5,812

higher is better

2024-25 (Scorecard)95 peers

▲ +127% steady · turning

Avg monthly faculty salaryAs filed

Below peers

$5,340

20th percentile in peer grouppeer median $7,481

higher is better

2024-25 (Scorecard)88 peers

Average monthly salary of full-time faculty, as reported to IPEDS.

Operating marginCalculated from filings

Deficit

-1.4%

27th percentile in peer grouppeer median 7.8%

higher is better

FY2022-2369 peers

Net surplus as a share of total revenue (IPEDS FY2022-23): (total revenues − total expenses) ÷ total revenues. A surplus above 4% is strong; a thin surplus near 0% leaves little margin for shocks.

Shown exactly as the institution filed it. The value falls outside the normal range for this measure, which usually means a reporting quirk rather than a real figure, so read it with care.

Tuition dependencyCalculated from filings

70.4%

7th percentile in peer grouppeer median 93.8%

context, not scored

FY2022-2369 peers

Tuition & fees as a share of total revenue (IPEDS FY2022-23). Higher = more exposed to enrollment swings.

Full-professor average salaryAs filed

Below peers

$50,250

21st percentile in peer grouppeer median $93,532

higher is better

2023-2446 peers

Average salary paid to full professors, the most senior instructional rank (IPEDS Human Resources, 2023-24, 9-month equated). It reflects both the school's pay scale and the seniority of its faculty, and it is a sizeable share of academic cost. Banded against the school's peer group.

Financial responsibility scoreRegulator / auditor finding

Strong

2.6

69th percentile in peer grouppeer median 2.2

higher is better

FY2022-23 (Federal Student Aid)47 peers

The U.S. Department of Education's financial-responsibility composite score, a -1.0 to +3.0 measure of an institution's solvency built from its audited finances. 1.5 and above passes; 1.0-1.4 is a zone needing oversight; below 1.0 fails and can trigger letter-of-credit or cash-monitoring requirements. ED computes it only for private non-profit and proprietary schools, so it is reported only where scored. Higher is safer. Banded against the school's peer group.

Grad PLUS exposureCalculated from filings

Low exposure

5.2%

AY2025-26 YTD (through Q2, Dec 2025)

Share of the institution's graduate federal loan dollars (Grad Unsubsidized + Grad PLUS) that came from Grad PLUS, the program the 2025 budget law eliminates for new borrowers from July 1, 2026, alongside new caps on graduate borrowing. A higher share means more of the school's graduate students rely on borrowing that will no longer exist above the unsubsidized cap. Source: U.S. Dept. of Education / Federal Student Aid Direct Loan Dashboard, primarily award year 2025-26 (year-to-date through Q2, December 2025), the most current federal data; schools not yet reporting Grad PLUS in 2025-26 retain their most recent complete year (2024-25), shown per school. The reliance share is stable across the two vintages. Shown only for schools with Grad PLUS originations; an exposure signal, not a forecast of revenue loss. Federal Student Aid publishes this dashboard quarterly and schools report on different schedules, so each school is shown at its own most recent reported period. Each school is shown at its own most recent filing, so the peer comparison spans a few filing years rather than a single one.

Avg Grad PLUS loanAs filed

Half the cap+

$11,000

AY2025-26 YTD (through Q2, Dec 2025)

Average Grad PLUS loan per recipient (FSA Direct Loan Dashboard, award year 2025-26 year-to-date through Q2, with 2024-25 full-year retained where 2025-26 is not yet reported). The 2025 budget law eliminates Grad PLUS for new borrowers from July 1, 2026 and caps unsubsidized graduate borrowing at $20,500/year, so this is the average per-borrower amount that will no longer be available above that cap. Paired with Grad PLUS exposure (the institution's reliance share), it is the depth axis of the Grad PLUS shock: how much each affected borrower stands to lose. Shown only where Grad PLUS was originated. Federal Student Aid publishes this dashboard quarterly and schools report on different schedules, so each school is shown at its own most recent reported period. Each school is shown at its own most recent filing, so the peer comparison spans a few filing years rather than a single one.

Structural risk indexBlended index

Elevated

FY2022-23 (IPEDS) with WICHE 2024 projections

An indicative 0–100 structural-risk index (higher = more pressure), an equal-weight blend of the stress signals we measure: thin or negative operating margin, low months of operating cushion, high tuition dependency, and a shrinking home-state high-school-graduate pipeline (enrollment cliff). Averaged over whichever signals are available (at least two required). It screens for the financial and demographic pressures that precede closures and mergers, a directional indicator, NOT a prediction that any institution will close, and not a credit rating. Built from the FY2022-23 IPEDS finance filing, the most recent one published, combined with WICHE's high-school-graduate projections. The finance side is two to three years old, so a school that has since raised money, cut costs or lost enrollment will not be reflected here. It is a structural signal, not a current diagnosis, and it is not a prediction that any named institution will close.

Enrollment loss before deficitModelled by Ibex

No cushion

15th percentile in peer grouppeer median 8.5%

higher is better

FY2022-2369 peers

The share of its students an institution could lose before its operating surplus becomes a deficit, assuming net tuition per student and total costs stay where they are. It comes straight from two figures in the same IPEDS finance filing: the operating margin, and tuition's share of total revenue. A school with a 3% surplus that funds 85% of itself from tuition can absorb about a 3.5% enrollment loss; the same 3% surplus at a school funding a quarter of itself from tuition absorbs about 12%. Zero means the institution is already running a deficit. It is not a prediction: no institution facing that loss would hold costs flat, and the number is the size of the hole that would have to be closed, not the outcome. Banded against the school's peer group. Higher is better.

Operating margin after a 10% enrollment lossModelled by Ibex

Into deficit

-9%

31st percentile in peer grouppeer median -1.6%

higher is better

FY2022-2369 peers

The institution's operating margin recomputed after losing one student in ten, holding net tuition per student and total costs constant. Tuition revenue falls with the students; every other revenue line and the whole cost base stay put. A tenth is the scale of decline the demographic projections already put on several states' high-school graduating classes, so it is a scenario rather than a worst case. Not a forecast: a real institution would cut costs, and this measures the gap it would have to cut, not what it would end up reporting. Built from the operating margin and tuition dependency in the same IPEDS filing. Banded against the school's peer group. Higher is better.

Shown exactly as the institution filed it. The value falls outside the normal range for this measure, which usually means a reporting quirk rather than a real figure, so read it with care.

Operational-risk index (official findings)Blended index

Clean

5.0

29th percentile in peer grouppeer median 11.0

lower is better

ED composite FY2022-23 (Federal Student Aid)47 peers

A 0-100 severity score built only from published federal determinations: the Department of Education's financial-responsibility composite score, its Heightened Cash Monitoring list, and the going-concern, material-weakness, material-noncompliance, modified-opinion and repeat-finding results of the school's Single Audit. It is deliberately NOT a model: every component is something a regulator or an independent auditor put in writing. Components are scored only where they exist, and the score is their weighted average, so a school assessed on two signals sits on the same scale as one assessed on seven. Schools with neither a composite score nor a Single Audit on file are omitted rather than shown as clean: ED does not compute a composite score for public institutions, and no audit on file means nobody looked, not that nothing was found. Read it alongside the structural-risk index, which is the tool's own forward-looking model rather than a record of findings. Lower is better. The window shown is the one this school's own figure was measured over: it is shorter where the series starts late, ends early, or is cut at a reporting change, so peers are not all measured over identical years.

Enrollment & Pipeline

The bar under each rank is the spread across the peer group: the shaded box is the middle half, the pale line is their median, and the gold marker is this institution. Hover for the figures.

12-month FTE enrollmentAs filed

9th percentile in peer grouppeer median 558

context, not scored

2023-24 (IPEDS)95 peers

Full-time-equivalent enrollment over the full 12-month year (IPEDS 12-month enrollment, 2023-24). Counts part-time students at their fractional load, so it runs above fall full-time headcount and is the denominator used for per-student finance measures.

Fully online studentsAs filed

23%

75th percentile in peer grouppeer median 5%

context, not scored

Fall 2023 (IPEDS)95 peers

Share of students enrolled exclusively in distance-education courses (IPEDS, Fall 2023). Describes delivery model, not quality; online-heavy institutions look different on residential measures.

Applicant-pool diversity shiftModelled by Ibex

+3.3 pts

WICHE 2024 (11th ed.)

Percentage-point change in the non-white share of the institution's home-state public high-school graduating class between the class of 2025 (the national peak) and 2037 (WICHE, Knocking at the College Door, 11th ed., public-school race detail). A forward look at who the future applicant pool will be: a positive value means the state's graduating class is projected to grow more racially diverse. Strategic recruiting context, not a forecast of any one school's enrollment, and a college recruits from many states.

Hybrid (some online) enrollmentAs filed

68%

63rd percentile in peer grouppeer median 59%

context, not scored

Fall 202395 peers

Share of all students taking some, but not all, of their courses at a distance (IPEDS, Fall 2023). This is the hybrid middle ground between the fully online share and the fully in-person share, and it signals how far a school has moved coursework online without going exclusively remote. Context metric, not better or worse. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.

Graduate share of enrollmentAs filed

100%

90th percentile in peer grouppeer median 4.6%

context, not scored

Fall 202395 peers

Graduate students as a share of total headcount enrollment (IPEDS, Fall 2023). It separates research-intensive universities with large graduate bodies from undergraduate-focused institutions. Context metric, not better or worse. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.

Women share of facultyAs filed

30.8%

2nd percentile in peer grouppeer median 72.5%

context, not scored

Fall 202380 peers

Women as a share of all instructional staff, full- and part-time combined (IPEDS Human Resources, Fall 2023). A gender-composition signal for the teaching workforce. Context metric, not better or worse. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.

Faculty of color shareAs filed

84.6%

87th percentile in peer grouppeer median 45.6%

context, not scored

Fall 202380 peers

Instructional staff who are American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Black, Hispanic, Native Hawaiian/Pacific Islander, or two-or-more races, as a share of all instructional staff (IPEDS Human Resources, Fall 2023). Nonresident and race-unknown staff are excluded from the numerator. Context metric, not better or worse. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.

Direct competitors within 100 miCalculated from filings

Average

37th percentile in peer grouppeer median 3

lower is better

2024-25 (Scorecard universe)95 peers

How many institutions of the same type (same Carnegie classification and control, i.e. the schools competing for the same students) sit within roughly 100 miles. A higher count means a more crowded local market and a harder yield fight, which matters most as the regional pool of high school graduates shrinks; a low count means the school has its catchment largely to itself. Distance is straight-line from campus coordinates. Banded against the school's peer group. Fewer is better for recruiting leverage.

Metro-area unemployment rateAs filed

Average

59th percentile in peer grouppeer median 5.2%

lower is better

ACS 2019-2395 peers

The civilian unemployment rate in the school's metropolitan or micropolitan area (US Census ACS 2019-23, mapped by the school's federal CBSA code). It is a proxy for local labor demand: a lower rate means a tighter job market, a stronger near-term destination for graduates and a smaller pool of working adults to recruit. It describes the local economy, not the school. Schools outside any metro area are not scored. Banded against the school's peer group.

Enrollment cliff (home state)External projection

Stable or growing

1.6%

WICHE 2024 (11th ed.) projection

Projected change in the number of high-school graduates in the institution's HOME STATE from the class of 2025 (the national peak) to 2041, per WICHE's Knocking at the College Door, 11th Edition (Dec 2024). The 'enrollment cliff' is the post-2008 birth decline reaching college age; the U.S. total is projected to fall about 13% over this window. A college recruits from many states, so its home-state projection is an indicative directional signal of feeder-market pressure, not a forecast of that institution's own enrollment. A projection, not a measurement: WICHE's state-level forecast of high-school graduates. It describes the pool a school recruits from, not the school's own enrollment.

In-state HS graduatesExternal projection

408,251

70th percentile in peer grouppeer median 143,303

context, not scored

Class of 2025 (WICHE)90 peers

The size of the school's home-state high-school graduating class in 2025 (WICHE Knocking at the College Door, public and private combined). It is the near-term in-state feeder market, the complement to the enrollment-cliff projection, which shows the direction that market is heading. Context metric, not better or worse. Shown as a position within the peer group, not as a score.

Net-price momentum (CAGR)Modelled by Ibex

Below peers

3.6%

74th percentile in peer grouppeer median 1.3%

lower is better

2016-17 to 2024-25 (Scorecard)93 peers

Compound annual growth rate of net tuition revenue per full-time-equivalent student over the tracked years. A high positive rate means the school's real net price is climbing faster than peers, which can strain affordability and yield. Banded against the school's peer group. Lower is better. The window shown is the one this school's own figure was measured over: it is shorter where the series starts late, ends early, or is cut at a reporting change, so peers are not all measured over identical years.

Student Outcomes & Risk

The bar under each rank is the spread across the peer group: the shaded box is the middle half, the pale line is their median, and the gold marker is this institution. Hover for the figures.

3-yr cohort default rateAs filed

Strong

5th percentile in peer grouppeer median 3.9%

lower is better

FY2017 cohort92 peers

Share of borrowers who defaulted within three years of entering repayment (U.S. Dept. of Education official cohort default rate). Shown for the FY2017 borrower cohort, the most recent cohort whose full three-year default window closed before the 2020-23 federal student-loan payment pause. More recent cohorts are reported by the College Scorecard at essentially 0%, but that reflects the payment pause (no payments were due, so almost no one could default), not borrower health, so the pre-pause cohort is the last meaningful reading. Lower is better.

Where these numbers come from

Every figure on this page carries one of these labels. They are not degrees of confidence: a projection is not a worse number than a filing, it is a different kind of claim, and the distinction is invisible when both are set in the same grey card.

As filedThis is the institution's own figure as filed with a federal collection, or a federal agency's own published figure about it. Ibex has not adjusted it.

Calculated from filingsCalculated by Ibex from figures in the same federal filing, using nothing but arithmetic: a share, a ratio, or an amount per student. It is exactly as sound as the filed numbers it divides.

Blended indexA blend of several other measures on this page, combined by Ibex. The components and how they are weighted are listed in this metric's description. Reasonable people could weight them differently and get a different score.

Modelled by IbexFitted or extrapolated by Ibex from the institution's reported history. This number appears in no federal file: it is a summary of a trend, and it inherits every irregularity in the years it was fitted through.

External projectionBuilt on an external projection about the future, published by a research body rather than measured. Projections are revised as the underlying assumptions change, and this one describes a scenario, not a fact.

Regulator / auditor findingA finding published by a regulator or an independent auditor about this institution. It is a statement someone made in writing, not a measurement Ibex or the school took.

Top fields of study (all levels)

American College of Acupuncture and Oriental Med’s largest fields by completions, with graduate earnings (4 years out) and debt benchmarked against the same field at its peer group. Sparklines show the 8-year completions trend.

Field	Completions / yr	Median earnings, 4 yrs out	Median debt	Earnings premium	Risk score
Health Professions & Clinical Sciences	23	–	–	–	Moderate · 59
Health Professions & Clinical Sciences	13	–	–	–	–

Earnings-premium status is an indicative estimate: median graduate earnings four years out vs the TX state median earnings of a high-school graduate (undergraduate credentials) or a bachelor’s-degree holder (graduate credentials) from the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey (2022 ACS 5-year). The official U.S. Department of Education determination uses its own cohort definition and may differ.

The risk score (0–100) is an indicative blend of earnings-premium margin and the five-year completions trend, higher means a field pays closer to (or below) the benchmark and is shrinking. A directional screen, not an official determination.

Major-level detail (CIP 4-digit)

Health Professions & Clinical Sciences – 2 CIP programs (4-digit), 0 with earnings

Major (CIP 4-digit)	Compl./yr	Earn 4yr	Earn 1yr	% > threshold	Median debt	Debt/earn	Earnings premium	2 of 3 yrs
Alternative and Complementary Medicine and Medical SystemsCIP 5133 ›	13	–	–	–	–	–	–	–
Health and Medical Administrative ServicesCIP 5107 ›	10	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Major-level earnings, debt and threshold pass-rates are reported by College Scorecard only where enough graduates exist to protect privacy, so 0 of 2 majors show an earnings figure; the rest read “–”. % > threshold is ED’s own share of graduates out-earning the federal earnings threshold (the do-no-harm pass rate), drawn from the best available measurement window (4-, 5- or 1-year) pooled across all nine College Scorecard Field-of-Study releases; a small chip marks any figure not on the 4-year window, and hovering names the cohort size and source release. 2 of 3 yrs flags fields below the earnings-premium benchmark in two of the latest three reported cohort-years, the statutory trigger under the 2025 test (effective July 1, 2026). Indicative; the Department of Education’s official determination may differ. Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard Field of Study (2014–15 through 2022–23 cohorts + most-recent snapshot), accessed March 2026.

Health Professions & Clinical Sciences – 1 CIP program (4-digit), 0 with earnings

Major (CIP 4-digit)	Compl./yr	Earn 4yr	Earn 1yr	% > threshold	Median debt	Debt/earn	Earnings premium	2 of 3 yrs
Alternative and Complementary Medicine and Medical SystemsCIP 5133 ›	13	–	–	–	–	–	–	–

Major-level earnings, debt and threshold pass-rates are reported by College Scorecard only where enough graduates exist to protect privacy, so 0 of 1 major shows an earnings figure; the rest read “–”. % > threshold is ED’s own share of graduates out-earning the federal earnings threshold (the do-no-harm pass rate), drawn from the best available measurement window (4-, 5- or 1-year) pooled across all nine College Scorecard Field-of-Study releases; a small chip marks any figure not on the 4-year window, and hovering names the cohort size and source release. 2 of 3 yrs flags fields below the earnings-premium benchmark in two of the latest three reported cohort-years, the statutory trigger under the 2025 test (effective July 1, 2026). Indicative; the Department of Education’s official determination may differ. Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard Field of Study (2014–15 through 2022–23 cohorts + most-recent snapshot), accessed March 2026.

See the interactive dashboard for all fields and credential levels (associate through doctoral). Source: College Scorecard Field of Study.

Frequently asked

Which schools are American College of Acupuncture and Oriental Med's peers?

American College of Acupuncture and Oriental Med is benchmarked against 95 institutions in the Special Focus: Other Health Professions · Private for-profit peer group; all percentiles and medians on this page are computed within that group.

Compare with peers

American Academy of Health and Wellness Arizona School of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine California Health Sciences University Colorado Chinese Medicine University Daoist Traditions College of Chinese Medical Arts Five Branches University

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Source: U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard & IPEDS (most recent releases), with the U.S. Census Bureau (ACS), the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Employment Projections, field-demand outlook) and WICHE (enrollment-cliff projections). Figures lag the current academic year by roughly two to three years. Percentiles and medians are computed within the institution's peer group. Financial Resilience is a transparent composite, see each component above. Compiled by Ibex Insights.