Lackawanna College
Private Community College in Scranton, PA. Six-year graduation rate 36%. Median 10-year earnings $41,000.
Ten-year median earnings of $41,000 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Only 36% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Debt at graduation runs to a median of $18,075, neither a bargain nor a burden. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.4% 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.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Only 36% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential. 83% of full-time first-years return for a second year — a healthy figure. 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. 27% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The student-faculty ratio is 21:1 — typical, which in practice means large lectures early and smaller classes in the major.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,837 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $19,682 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. The income table below is the number that matters — $18,142 at $0–30k versus $26,351 at $110k+. About 83% get grants averaging $9,368, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. Most students borrow — 76% take federal loans to cover the gap.
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 · 381 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 | $18,142 |
| $30–48k | $18,288 |
| $48–75k | $20,224 |
| $75–110k | $23,796 |
| $110k+ | $26,351 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,394 of these 1,837 students, totalling $11,447,896 — an average of $8,212 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lackawanna 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)