Delgado Community College
Public Community College in New Orleans, LA. Six-year graduation rate 24%. Median 10-year earnings $33,305.
Students who entered Delgado Community College reach a median of $33,305 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. Only 24% finish within six years, so roughly three in four students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $20,198, neither a bargain nor a burden. It also moves people — 2.1% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Debt-to-income ratio 0.61 — elevated (above 0.60)
- ! Graduation rate 24% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 24% graduate within six years. Retention is weak: only 50% of full-time first-years return, so roughly one in two leave after one year. 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 14% — 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 28% — relevant if you plan to work while enrolled.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 11,151 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $9,564 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The income table below is the number that matters — $8,734 at $0–30k versus $17,285 at $110k+. 76% of students receive grant aid, averaging $7,292 — common but not automatic. About 48% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 1,087 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 | $8,734 |
| $30–48k | $8,880 |
| $48–75k | $12,578 |
| $75–110k | $15,908 |
| $110k+ | $17,285 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 5,305 of these 11,151 students, totalling $35,928,156 — an average of $6,773 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Orleans Parish) — 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)