Essex County College
Public Community College in Newark, NJ. Six-year graduation rate 20%. Median 10-year earnings $37,230.
Students who entered Essex County College reach a median of $37,230 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. Only 20% finish within six years, so roughly four in five students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 3.3% of students move 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.
- ! Graduation rate 20% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 20% graduate within six years. Retention is weak: only 56% of full-time first-years return, so roughly two in five leave after one 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. 13% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. Retention drops to 39% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 5,643 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $4,971 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Net price varies modestly by income — $3,792 at $0–30k against $9,647 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. Grant aid reaches 66% of students at an average of $5,945.
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 · 974 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 | $3,792 |
| $30–48k | $4,562 |
| $48–75k | $6,135 |
| $75–110k | $7,345 |
| $110k+ | $9,647 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Essex 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)