Passaic County
Community College
Public Community College in Paterson, NJ. Six-year graduation rate 19%. Median 10-year earnings $36,972.
Ten-year median earnings of $36,972 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Completion is the weak point: 19% graduate within six years. Graduates leave owing a median of $7,536 — modest by four-year standards. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.9% 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.20 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 19% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 19% graduate within six years. Retention of 60% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. 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. 17% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The part-time picture is harder: 44% return, against 60% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,546 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $6,646 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Net price varies modestly by income — $7,686 at $0–30k against $12,816 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. About 80% get grants averaging $5,195, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. Only 12% 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 · 508 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 | $7,686 |
| $30–48k | $6,088 |
| $48–75k | $7,694 |
| $75–110k | $10,237 |
| $110k+ | $12,816 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 545 of these 4,546 students, totalling $2,800,472 — an average of $5,138 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Passaic 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)