Southern Careers Institute-Austin
For-profit College in Austin, TX. Six-year graduation rate 53%. Median 10-year earnings $27,035.
Ten-year median earnings of $27,035 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. 53% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Graduates leave owing a median of $8,708 — modest by four-year standards. On economic mobility, 3.5% of students travel from the bottom income quintile to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.32 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
53% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. 67% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in three are gone before sophomore year. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. The 25:1 student-faculty ratio is high, so large classes and limited faculty contact should be the expectation. Being a for-profit two-year institution is the single most useful context for these numbers — the sector's spread is wide enough that the school-level figures matter more than usual.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,557 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $25,517 annually once grants are applied. Income makes less difference than usual: $25,706 at $0–30k, $29,968 at $110k+. 74% of students receive grant aid, averaging $3,794 — common but not automatic. 56% of students borrow federally, so debt is the norm rather than the exception.
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 · 803 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 | $25,706 |
| $30–48k | $25,222 |
| $48–75k | $25,937 |
| $75–110k | $25,652 |
| $110k+ | $29,968 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 867 of these 1,557 students, totalling $4,320,098 — an average of $4,983 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Travis 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)