Pasadena City College
Public Community College in Pasadena, CA. Six-year graduation rate 48%. Median 10-year earnings $43,937.
Students who entered Pasadena City College land at a median of $43,937 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 48%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Median debt at graduation is $6,651, a light load against those earnings. On economic mobility, 4.8% of students travel 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.15 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Completion is middling: 48% finish inside six years. Retention of 76% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. Retention runs well ahead of completion, which means students are not leaving immediately; they are leaving somewhere between the second year and the finish line. The part-time picture is harder: 43% return, against 76% full-time. A 23:1 ratio means students need to be deliberate about getting faculty time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 20,624 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $6,888 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $3,051 while those at $110k+ pay $11,261. About 63% get grants averaging $5,144, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. Only 1% take federal loans. Private borrowing is not captured in this figure.
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 · 3,066 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 | $3,051 |
| $30–48k | $2,631 |
| $48–75k | $6,003 |
| $75–110k | $9,136 |
| $110k+ | $11,261 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 210 of these 20,624 students, totalling $1,516,313 — an average of $7,221 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Los Angeles 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)