Jamestown Community College
Public Community College in Jamestown, NY. Six-year graduation rate 40%. Median 10-year earnings $38,242.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $38,242, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. The six-year graduation rate is 40%, meaning about three in five students who start do not finish. Borrowing stays contained, with median debt at graduation of $10,990.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.29 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Completion is middling: 40% finish inside six years. Retention is weak: only 58% of full-time first-years return, so roughly two in five leave after one year. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. A 14% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here. Retention drops to 45% 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 1,692 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $10,029 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 — $7,229 at $0–30k versus $16,306 at $110k+. 75% of students receive grant aid, averaging $7,710 — common but not automatic. 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 · 521 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 | $7,229 |
| $30–48k | $8,662 |
| $48–75k | $11,895 |
| $75–110k | $13,776 |
| $110k+ | $16,306 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 520 of these 1,692 students, totalling $2,981,523 — an average of $5,734 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Chautauqua 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)