Luzerne County
Community College
Public Community College in Nanticoke, PA. Six-year graduation rate 23%. Median 10-year earnings $40,437.
Students who entered Luzerne County Community College reach a median of $40,437 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. The six-year graduation rate is 23% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Borrowing stays contained, with median debt at graduation of $11,000.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.27 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 23% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 23% graduate within six years. First-year retention is 60% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. Transfer-out runs to 17% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. Retention drops to 46% 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 3,242 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $8,491 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($7,711 versus $14,093), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 57% of students at an average of $5,084. 38% 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 · 489 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 | $7,711 |
| $30–48k | $8,530 |
| $48–75k | $10,358 |
| $75–110k | $12,980 |
| $110k+ | $14,093 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,242 of these 3,242 students, totalling $4,915,246 — an average of $3,958 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Luzerne 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)