Reading Area
Community College
Public Community College in Reading, PA. Six-year graduation rate 34%. Median 10-year earnings $39,082.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $39,082, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. The six-year graduation rate is 34% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Graduates leave owing a median of $8,750 — modest by four-year standards.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.22 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 34% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 34% graduate within six years. Retention of 66% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. Transfer-out runs to 13% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. The part-time picture is harder: 48% return, against 66% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,338 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $9,089 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. Income makes less difference than usual: $7,968 at $0–30k, $14,049 at $110k+. About 69% get grants averaging $6,023, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. About 28% 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 · 340 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 | $7,968 |
| $30–48k | $8,553 |
| $48–75k | $8,987 |
| $75–110k | $12,121 |
| $110k+ | $14,049 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 942 of these 3,338 students, totalling $5,875,539 — an average of $6,237 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Berks 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)