Lincoln Technical
Institute-South Plainfield
For-profit College in South Plainfield, NJ. Six-year graduation rate 77%. Median 10-year earnings $46,396.
The median ten-year earnings figure of $46,396 sits near the national middle rather than at either extreme. The six-year graduation rate of 77% is well above average and the clearest sign this school holds onto its students. Graduates leave owing a median of $11,730 — 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 0.25 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Graduation rate 77% — well above the national average
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Six-year completion runs to 77% — students who start here overwhelmingly finish here. First-year retention is 73% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. At 24:1, instructor access is thin — worth probing on a campus visit. This is a for-profit two-year institution. That is not disqualifying, but it does mean verifying accreditation, transferability of credits, and job-placement claims directly rather than trusting the category. This is a small school — 529 undergraduates — so cohorts are tight and the program list is necessarily short.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 529 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price — what students actually pay after grant aid — is $31,920 a year, at the high end of undergraduate cost. Income makes less difference than usual: $29,960 at $0–30k, $34,187 at $110k+. 76% of students receive grant aid, averaging $4,048 — common but not automatic. Most students borrow — 72% 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 · 253 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 | $29,960 |
| $30–48k | $32,637 |
| $48–75k | $30,617 |
| $75–110k | $34,310 |
| $110k+ | $34,187 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 380 of these 529 students, totalling $2,820,110 — an average of $7,421 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Middlesex 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)