Seattle Central College
Public Community College in Seattle, WA. Six-year graduation rate 32%. Median 10-year earnings $43,307.
The median ten-year earnings figure of $43,307 sits near the national middle rather than at either extreme. Completion is the weak point: 32% graduate within six years. Borrowing stays contained, with median debt at graduation of $12,000.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.28 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 32% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 32% graduate within six years. Transfer-out runs to 24% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. At 17:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. The undergraduate population is 5,210 — big enough for a real range of programs, small enough to navigate.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,879 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $11,187 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $7,883 while those at $110k+ pay $16,989. 58% of students receive grant aid, averaging $6,807 — common but not automatic. Only 4% 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 · 703 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 | $7,883 |
| $30–48k | $8,893 |
| $48–75k | $10,422 |
| $75–110k | $11,555 |
| $110k+ | $16,989 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 166 of these 3,879 students, totalling $1,175,901 — an average of $7,084 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (King 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)