Rio Salado College
Public Community College in Tempe, AZ. Six-year graduation rate 9%. Median 10-year earnings $41,015.
Students who entered Rio Salado College reach a median of $41,015 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. Only 9% finish within six years, so roughly nine in ten students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Median debt at graduation is $9,500, a light load against those earnings.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.23 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 9% — below national average
Academics
Only 9% finish within six years, so roughly nine in ten students leave without the credential. A 16% 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 31:1 student-faculty ratio is high, so large classes and limited faculty contact should be the expectation. This is a public four-year university, so read every rate on this page against that peer group specifically. With 18,631 undergraduates, this is a large institution — expect the administrative scale and the range of offerings that come with it.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,566 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $8,733 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($6,800 versus $13,425), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Only 31% of students receive grant aid, so most families are paying near the published price. 15% borrow federally — a low rate, though it covers federal loans only.
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 · 165 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 | $6,800 |
| $30–48k | $10,182 |
| $48–75k | $9,356 |
| $75–110k | $10,871 |
| $110k+ | $13,425 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 702 of these 4,566 students, totalling $2,874,168 — an average of $4,094 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Maricopa 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)