Pickens Technical College
Public Community College in Aurora, CO. Six-year graduation rate 76%. Median 10-year earnings $39,210.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $39,210, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Completion is a strength: 76% of students finish within six years.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Graduation rate 76% — well above the national average
Academics
A 76% six-year graduation rate is the strongest academic signal on this page. 67% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in three are gone before sophomore year. A 20:1 ratio is unremarkable; expect a mix of lecture halls and seminars. As a public community college, the relevant comparison is other two-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions. This is a small school — 1,025 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 639 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $6,455 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. The gap between the $0–30k and $75–110k bands is narrow ($6,980 versus $9,139), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 58% of students at an average of $6,235.
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 · 415 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 | $6,980 |
| $30–48k | $4,691 |
| $48–75k | $4,657 |
| $75–110k | $9,139 |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Arapahoe 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)