CUNY LaGuardia
Community College
Public Community College in Long Island City, NY. Six-year graduation rate 24%. Median 10-year earnings $41,653.
Students who entered CUNY LaGuardia Community College reach a median of $41,653 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. The six-year graduation rate is 24% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Graduates leave owing a median of $7,407 — modest by four-year standards. On economic mobility, 6.1% 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 0.18 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Mobility score 6.1 — top quartile among US colleges
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 24% — below national average
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 24% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. Just 57% of first-years come back — most of the completion gap opens in year one. Retention runs well ahead of completion, which means students are not leaving immediately; they are leaving somewhere between the second year and the finish line. Transfer-out runs to 16% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. The part-time picture is harder: 39% return, against 57% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 10,556 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $6,983 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Income makes less difference than usual: $5,269 at $0–30k, $12,745 at $110k+. 69% of students receive grant aid, averaging $5,222 — common but not automatic. 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 · 1,984 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 | $5,269 |
| $30–48k | $5,767 |
| $48–75k | $8,282 |
| $75–110k | $9,478 |
| $110k+ | $12,745 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 338 of these 10,556 students, totalling $1,716,331 — an average of $5,078 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Queens 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)