Salem Community College
Public Community College in Carneys Point, NJ. Six-year graduation rate 40%. Median 10-year earnings $38,020.
Ten-year median earnings of $38,020 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. The six-year graduation rate is 40%, meaning about three in five students who start do not finish. 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 0.25 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 0.9 — limited economic uplift documented
Academics
Six-year completion sits at 40%, meaning about three in five students who enroll leave without finishing. First-year retention is 66% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. Part-time students fare worse, returning at 55% — relevant if you plan to work while enrolled. The student-faculty ratio is 17:1 — typical, which in practice means large lectures early and smaller classes in the major.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 952 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $10,462 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Income makes less difference than usual: $9,845 at $0–30k, $16,712 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 57% of students at an average of $5,706. Only 14% 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 · 185 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 | $9,845 |
| $30–48k | $8,997 |
| $48–75k | $11,702 |
| $75–110k | $14,568 |
| $110k+ | $16,712 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 132 of these 952 students, totalling $829,263 — an average of $6,282 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Salem 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)