Hudson Valley
Community College
Public Community College in Troy, NY. Six-year graduation rate 35%. Median 10-year earnings $45,460.
Students who entered Hudson Valley Community College land at a median of $45,460 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 35% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Graduates leave owing a median of $10,625 — modest by four-year standards.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.23 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 35% — below national average
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 35% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. Retention of 61% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. 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 16% — 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 49% — relevant if you plan to work while enrolled.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 6,360 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $8,197 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. The income table below is the number that matters — $5,048 at $0–30k versus $15,230 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 56% of students at an average of $7,107. 31% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
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 · 1,555 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 | $5,048 |
| $30–48k | $6,490 |
| $48–75k | $10,442 |
| $75–110k | $12,829 |
| $110k+ | $15,230 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,949 of these 6,360 students, totalling $12,811,206 — an average of $6,573 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Rensselaer 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)