Cerritos College
Public Community College in Norwalk, CA. Six-year graduation rate 31%. Median 10-year earnings $41,156.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $41,156, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Only 31% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Borrowing stays contained, with median debt at graduation of $8,447. On economic mobility, 3.3% of students travel from the bottom income quintile to the top.
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
- ! Graduation rate 31% — below national average
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 31% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. 67% 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. Retention drops to 44% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic. A 26:1 ratio means students need to be deliberate about getting faculty time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 18,710 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $4,325 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Net price varies modestly by income — $1,538 at $0–30k against $7,901 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. Grant aid reaches 64% of students at an average of $5,213. Only 3% take federal loans. Private borrowing is not captured in this figure.
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 · 2,493 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 | $1,538 |
| $30–48k | $1,784 |
| $48–75k | $3,774 |
| $75–110k | $6,599 |
| $110k+ | $7,901 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 537 of these 18,710 students, totalling $3,898,260 — an average of $7,259 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Los Angeles County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026