IA
Central College
7.38 incidents / 1,000 students
Pella, IA · Clery Act 2024 · Private Nonprofit
Central College
Across 2022–2024, Central College reported 21 incidents in the Clery Criminal Offenses section, and the yearly count fell over that span (largest filed category: Rape). Nearby same-state same-level comparison: Cornell College.
- 7.38
- Incidents / 1k students
- #1,819
- Rank of 2,072
- #40
- IA rank
- 1,084
- Enrolled students
7.38 reported score-category incidents per 1,000 students
Central College reports 7.38 2024 score-category incidents per 1,000 - 122% above Manhattan School of Music. Similar-enrollment scored peers: Manhattan School of Music (1.84/1k); DigiPen Institute of Technology (0.92/1k); Salem University (1.85/1k); Carrington College-Phoenix North (1.85/1k); Dillard University (10.19/1k). Same-state same-level set also includes Cornell College (4.57/1k); Graceland University-Lamoni (4.54/1k); Loras College (5.05/1k); Coe College (10.88/1k); Clarke University (4.16/1k); Briar Cliff University (2.11/1k); Simpson College (1.60/1k); Mercy College of Health Sciences (3.45/1k). Largest Criminal Offenses total across filed years: Rape.
Data source U.S. Department of Education, OPE Campus Safety and Security Survey
- incidents / 1,000 students
- 7.38
- of 2,072 ranked nationally
- #1,819
- report fewer incidents than this campus
- 88%
- Criminal Offenses, 2024
- 6
Source: U.S. Department of Education OPE Campus Safety and Security Survey
Data updated August 2026
Clery Act plate
Sheet 153108 · Central College 7.38/1k score rate · #1,819/2,072
RATE-HOT · RANK-BOTTOM · ST-MID · BELOW-PEER · ZERO-NONE · TREND-DOWN · CAT-LEAD · ENR-SMALL · FIRE-ZERO
- RATE-HOT 7.38/1k
- RANK-BOTTOM #1,819/2,072
- ST-MID #40 in state
- BELOW-PEER Dillard University · 2.81 back
- ZERO-NONE Scored
- TREND-DOWN ↓ 25%
- CAT-LEAD Rape
- ENR-SMALL 1,084
- FIRE-ZERO 0 fires filed
Nearest enrollment peer: Dillard University (+2.81/1k)
Central College sheet RATE-HOT · RANK-BOTTOM · ST-MID · BELOW-PEER · ZERO-NONE · TREND-DOWN · CAT-LEAD · ENR-SMALL · FIRE-ZERO · peer Dillard University. Codes from this campus OPE filing: score-category rate, national/state rank, named enrollment peer, zero posture, Criminal Offenses trend, lead category, enrollment band, fire filing. Not a moving recommendation.
Clery plate RATE-HOT · RANK-BOTTOM · ST-MID · BELOW-PEER · ZERO-NONE · TREND-DOWN · CAT-LEAD · ENR-SMALL · FIRE-ZERO. Nearest similar-enrollment peer is Dillard University (+2.81/1k). National rank #1,819 of 2,072 scored campuses. Instrument codes from this campus OPE sheet; compare similarly sized peers before treating any single rate as decisive.
Central College reports 7.38 2024 score-category incidents per 1,000 - 122% above Manhattan School of Music. Similar-enrollment scored peers: Manhattan School of Music (1.84/1k); DigiPen Institute of Technology (0.92/1k); Salem University (1.85/1k); Carrington College-Phoenix North (1.85/1k); Dillard University (10.19/1k). Same-state same-level set also includes Cornell College (4.57/1k); Graceland University-Lamoni (4.54/1k); Loras College (5.05/1k); Coe College (10.88/1k); Clarke University (4.16/1k); Briar Cliff University (2.11/1k); Simpson College (1.60/1k); Mercy College of Health Sciences (3.45/1k). Largest Criminal Offenses total across filed years: Rape.
Peer-rate neighbourhood around Central College
Lowest/highest enrollment peers plus campuses nearest Central on score-category rate. Full ladder: /rankings/safest-campuses.
- DigiPen Institute of Technology · lowest peer 0.92
DigiPen Institute of Technology — lowest peer
0.92 per 1,000 students
- Carrington College-Phoenix North · near 1.85
Carrington College-Phoenix North — near
1.85 per 1,000 students
- Salem University · near 1.85
Salem University — near
1.85 per 1,000 students
- Central College · this campus
Central College — this campus
7.38 per 1,000 students
- Dillard University · highest peer
Dillard University — highest peer
10.19 per 1,000 students
What this shows Neighbourhood of similar-enrollment peers around Central College's 7.38/1k rate, not a full-corpus distribution reprint.
Reporting-period change
What changed in 2024
Central College decreased from 7 to 6 reported on-campus incidents between the 2023 and 2024 reporting years in the U.S. Department of Education OPE Campus Safety Survey.
This is a change in reported incidents, not a measure of individual safety. Enrollment, reporting practice, and category coverage can affect the count.
See national reporting-year changesSignature insight · size does not equal danger
Campus size vs reported safety rate
Among 37 IA 4-year peers in this comparison, Central College is larger than 28% and safer-reporting than 19% - the smaller, higher-reporting quadrant. Axes are within-sample percentiles so outliers share the same frame; a higher safety percentile means a lower Clery incidents-per-1,000 rate.
Read the chart as text
- Point 1: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 31, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 33
- Point 2: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 33, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 36
- Point 3: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 36, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 31
- Point 4: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 39, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 6
- Point 5: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 25, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 44
- Point 6: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 22, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 64
- Point 7: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 42, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 69
- Point 8: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 19, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 50
- Point 9: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 44, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 28
- Point 10: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 47, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 83
- Point 11: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 50, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 17
- Point 12: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 53, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 72
- Point 13: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 56, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 81
- Point 14: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 17, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 83
- Point 15: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 14, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 67
- Point 16: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 58, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 58
- Point 17: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 61, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 0
- Point 18: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 64, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 3
- Point 19: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 67, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 11
- Point 20: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 69, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 42
- Point 21: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 11, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 83
- Point 22: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 72, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 78
- Point 23: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 8, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 83
- Point 24: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 6, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 83
- Point 25: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 75, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 56
- Point 26: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 3, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 83
- Point 27: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 0, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 83
- Point 28: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 78, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 61
- Point 29: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 81, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 14
- Point 30: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 83, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 22
- Point 31: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 86, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 39
- Point 32: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 89, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 75
- Point 33: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 92, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 47
- Point 34: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 94, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 25
- Point 35: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 97, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 53
- Point 36: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 100, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 8
- Central College: Enrollment size, percentile in sample 28, Safer-reporting percentile (lower rate) 19
Read the chart as a table
| Campus | Enrollment | Rate / 1k | Size pct | Safety pct |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Orion Technical College | 41 | 0.00 | 0 | 83 |
| Divine Word College | 64 | 0.00 | 3 | 83 |
| Wartburg Theological Seminary | 161 | 0.00 | 6 | 83 |
| St Luke's College | 176 | 0.00 | 8 | 83 |
| Emmaus Bible College | 234 | 0.00 | 11 | 83 |
| Allen College | 483 | 2.07 | 14 | 67 |
| Faith Baptist Bible College and Theological Seminary | 611 | 0.00 | 17 | 83 |
| Mercy College of Health Sciences | 869 | 3.45 | 19 | 50 |
| Briar Cliff University | 947 | 2.11 | 22 | 64 |
| Clarke University | 962 | 4.16 | 25 | 44 |
| Central College (this campus) | 1,084 | 7.38 | 28 | 19 |
| Cornell College | 1,094 | 4.57 | 31 | 33 |
Sample of 12 campuses from the plot (sorted by enrollment). Source: U.S. Department of Education OPE Campus Safety Survey + IPEDS enrollment. Rate = on-campus Criminal Offenses and VAWA incidents per 1,000 students; lower is safer-reporting, not a personal-risk forecast.
What changed between 2023 and 2024
Reported on-campus incidents at Central College fell from 7 to 6 (-14%). The increase shows up in Rape (4 to 5). Falling over the same period: Fondling (3 to 1).
This describes reported incidents, not crime. Clery counts move with reporting policy, awareness campaigns and how a campus staffs its security authorities, so a rise can reflect better capture of reports and a fall can reflect worse capture. One year of movement at a single campus is not a trend.
What actually gets reported at Central College
Across 3 reporting years, on-campus incidents were recorded in 2 Clery Act categories here: Rape and Fondling. Rape accounts for most of them.
The remaining 9 categories were reported with no on-campus incidents, among them Aggravated Assault, Arson, Burglary and Incest. Under the Clery Act that zero is an affirmative report that nothing in the category occurred, not an absence of data, which is why the table below lists those rows rather than dropping them.
Counts describe incidents reported under the Clery Act for the on-campus geography. Reporting practice varies between institutions, so counts are not a direct measure of relative safety.
Crime Statistics by Year
11 categories 3 reporting years on-campus onlyCentral College: Criminal Offenses by year
Declining 25% (8 → 6 incidents)
Read the chart as text
| Period | On-campus incidents |
|---|---|
| 2022 | 8 |
| 2023 | 7 |
| 2024 | 6 |
| Crime Type | 2024 | 2023 | 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rape | 5 | 4 | 4 |
| Fondling | 1 | 3 | 4 |
| Aggravated Assault | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Arson | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Burglary | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Incest | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Motor Vehicle Theft | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Murder / Non-Negligent Manslaughter | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Negligent Manslaughter | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Robbery | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Statutory Rape | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Source: US Dept of Education OPE Campus Safety Survey. Table figures show the Criminal Offenses section; other Clery tables are separate
Fire Safety
| Year | Fires | Inj. | Deaths | Cat I | Cat II |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
Arrests & Disciplinary Actions
9 category-year records| Category | Year | Arrests | Discipline |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drugs | 2024 | 0 | 1 |
| Liquor | 2024 | 0 | 111 |
| Weapons | 2024 | 0 | 0 |
| Drugs | 2023 | 0 | 5 |
| Liquor | 2023 | 0 | 80 |
| Weapons | 2023 | 0 | 0 |
| Drugs | 2022 | 0 | 0 |
| Liquor | 2022 | 0 | 159 |
| Weapons | 2022 | 0 | 0 |
Central College vs peer institutions
Side-by-side safety scores for 3 peers of similar enrollment
Scores are $2024 Criminal Offenses and VAWA incidents per 1,000 enrolled students (lower is fewer in those categories).
NY
Manhattan School of Music
1.84 incidents / 1,000 students
WA
DigiPen Institute of Technology
0.92 incidents / 1,000 students
Cost context
Where Central College sits on price and outcomes
At $23,377, Central College's reported average net price is cheaper than 79% among 68 Iowa colleges with a reported figure. The state median is $17,813.
- $23,377
- average net price
- $17,813
- Iowa median
- 1.8×
- six-year earnings to median debt
- $10,934
- reported income-bracket spread
Net price moves with income here, but not sharply: $16,231 for families reporting under $30,000 against $27,165 above $110,000, a difference of $10,934. Aid narrows the gap without closing it, so the $23,377 average sits reasonably close to what most brackets report.
Six-year median earnings of $49,115 run about 2.1 times the annual net price. The margin is real but narrow, so how many years of price a student actually pays matters a great deal here.
Average net price reflects grant and scholarship aid for aided students, not a personal offer. Earnings cover former students who received federal aid; neither measure predicts an individual's outcome.
Academic & Financial Profile
Tuition & Costs
- In-State Tuition
- $20,988
- Out-of-State Tuition
- $20,988
- Avg Net Price
- $23,377
- Median Debt
- $26,984
- Pell Grant Recipients
- 22%
Admissions
- Acceptance Rate
- 86%
- SAT Average
- 1147
- SAT Math Range
- 528-560
- ACT Average
- 22
- ACT Range
- 20-26
Outcomes
- 4-Year Graduation Rate
- 68%
- Retention Rate
- 80%
- Median Earnings (6yr)
- $49,115
- Median Earnings (10yr)
- $54,317
- Loan Repayment (3yr)
- 83%
Source: IPEDS & College Scorecard. Methodology.
Similar Institutions
Showing 5 of 1,251 similar institutions by enrollment size.
Manhattan School of Music
New York, NY · 1,084 enrolled
Safety Score 1.84
DigiPen Institute of Technology
Redmond, WA · 1,084 enrolled
Safety Score 0.92
Salem University
Salem, WV · 1,083 enrolled
Safety Score 1.85
Carrington College-Phoenix North
Phoenix, AZ · 1,080 enrolled
Safety Score 1.85
Dillard University
New Orleans, LA · 1,080 enrolled
Safety Score 10.19
Closest by National Rank
Central College (national rank #1819) sits near Tulane University of Louisiana (#1818) and Johns Hopkins University (#1820) on the scored national list, nearest by rank, not by size or state.
Tulane University of Louisiana
New Orleans, LA
National Rank #1818
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD
National Rank #1820
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
Baton Rouge, LA
National Rank #1821
University of Lynchburg
Lynchburg, VA
National Rank #1817
SUNY Morrisville
Morrisville, NY
National Rank #1816
Nationwide campuses with similar scale or Clery rate
Two Clery-derived peer sets for Central College, both outside IA so the neighborhoods are not state containment (Similar Institutions and national-rank neighbors above stay enrollment- or rank-based).
Similar enrollment (nationwide)
DigiPen Institute of Technology
Redmond, WA · 1,084 enrolled
Safety score 0.92
Manhattan School of Music
New York, NY · 1,084 enrolled
Safety score 1.84
Salem University
Salem, WV · 1,083 enrolled
Safety score 1.85
Dillard University
New Orleans, LA · 1,080 enrolled
Safety score 10.19
Agnes Scott College
Decatur, GA · 1,079 enrolled
Safety score 8.34
South Texas College of Law Houston
Houston, TX · 1,089 enrolled
Safety score 0.00
The College of Idaho
Caldwell, ID · 1,090 enrolled
Safety score 11.93
Heidelberg University
Tiffin, OH · 1,091 enrolled
Safety score 5.50
Similar 2024 Clery rate (nationwide)
Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD · 30,210 enrolled
Safety score 7.38
Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College
Baton Rouge, LA · 41,705 enrolled
Safety score 7.39
Tulane University of Louisiana
New Orleans, LA · 13,310 enrolled
Safety score 7.36
Northwest College
Powell, WY · 1,486 enrolled
Safety score 7.40
University of Lynchburg
Lynchburg, VA · 2,316 enrolled
Safety score 7.34
Illinois College
Jacksonville, IL · 942 enrolled
Safety score 7.43
Trinidad State College
Trinidad, CO · 1,613 enrolled
Safety score 7.44
SUNY Morrisville
Morrisville, NY · 2,186 enrolled
Safety score 7.32
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Central College safe?
Central College has a safety score of 7.38 (2024 on-campus Criminal Offenses and VAWA incidents per 1,000 enrolled students) and ranks #1,819 nationally out of 2,072 ranked institutions - nearest similar-enrollment comparison: Manhattan School of Music (1.84/1k). Same-state same-level set: Cornell College (4.57/1k); Graceland University-Lamoni (4.54/1k); Loras College (5.05/1k); Coe College (10.88/1k); Clarke University (4.16/1k); Briar Cliff University (2.11/1k); Simpson College (1.60/1k); Mercy College of Health Sciences (3.45/1k).
What crimes are reported at Central College?
For calendar year 2024, Central College reported Rape (5) and Fondling (1) in the Criminal Offenses section. Every other category in that section was reported at zero; other Clery tables are separate.
How does Central College compare to similar schools?
Central College reports 122% more 2024 score-category incidents per 1,000 than Manhattan School of Music. Scored similar-enrollment peers on this page: Manhattan School of Music (1.84/1k); DigiPen Institute of Technology (0.92/1k); Salem University (1.85/1k); Carrington College-Phoenix North (1.85/1k); Dillard University (10.19/1k). Same-state same-level set: Cornell College (4.57/1k); Graceland University-Lamoni (4.54/1k); Loras College (5.05/1k); Coe College (10.88/1k); Clarke University (4.16/1k); Briar Cliff University (2.11/1k); Simpson College (1.60/1k); Mercy College of Health Sciences (3.45/1k).
Does Central College have fire safety data?
Yes. Central College reports fire safety data for on-campus residential facilities, including total fires, injuries, deaths, and fire damage categories. No fires were reported in the most recent year.
Every figure on PlainCampus is rendered directly from federal Clery Act source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal Clery Act source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.
PlainCampus is for informational purposes only and does not constitute safety, security, legal, or enrollment advice; the data describes reported on-campus activity, it is not a complete picture of safety at any campus and cannot predict any individual student's experience. See our appropriate use guidance.
PlainCampus is for informational purposes only and does not constitute safety, security, legal, or enrollment advice.