Central Piedmont
Community College
Public Community College in Charlotte, NC. Six-year graduation rate 31%. Median 10-year earnings $37,865.
Students who entered Central Piedmont Community College reach a median of $37,865 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. Only 31% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Median debt at graduation is $7,925, a light load against those earnings.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.21 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 0.9 — limited economic uplift documented
- ! Graduation rate 31% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 31% graduate within six years. 70% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in three are gone before sophomore year. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. Transfer-out runs to 26% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. Part-time students fare worse, returning at 55% — relevant if you plan to work while enrolled.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 13,653 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $4,616 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. The gap between the $0–30k and $75–110k bands is narrow ($3,258 versus $8,010), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. 55% of students receive grant aid, averaging $4,684 — common but not automatic.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 972 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $3,258 |
| $30–48k | $2,068 |
| $48–75k | $4,725 |
| $75–110k | $8,010 |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Mecklenburg County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)