Northampton County
Area Community College
Public Community College in Bethlehem, PA. Six-year graduation rate 24%. Median 10-year earnings $41,566.
Ten-year median earnings of $41,566 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Completion is the weak point: 24% graduate within six years. Graduates leave owing a median of $15,495 — modest by four-year standards.
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
- ! Graduation rate 24% — below national average
Academics
Only 24% finish within six years, so roughly three in four students leave without the credential. First-year retention is 64% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. 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. A 20% 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. The part-time picture is harder: 39% return, against 64% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 7,522 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $11,682 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The income table below is the number that matters — $8,986 at $0–30k versus $17,697 at $110k+. 54% of students receive grant aid, averaging $4,242 — common but not automatic. About 33% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 834 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 | $8,986 |
| $30–48k | $10,102 |
| $48–75k | $13,016 |
| $75–110k | $15,912 |
| $110k+ | $17,697 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,479 of these 7,522 students, totalling $15,405,295 — an average of $6,214 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Northampton 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)