Southern Careers Institute-Pharr
For-profit College in Pharr, TX. Six-year graduation rate 61%. Median 10-year earnings $27,035.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $27,035, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. The six-year graduation rate is 61%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Graduates leave owing a median of $8,708 — 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 0.32 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Completion is middling: 61% finish inside six years. 77% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in four are gone before sophomore year. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. A 25:1 ratio means students need to be deliberate about getting faculty time. As a for-profit two-year institution, outcomes here deserve a harder look than the sector average suggests: for-profit institutions vary enormously, and the sector's aggregate numbers hide both strong and very weak performers.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 975 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $21,782 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Income makes less difference than usual: $21,727 at $0–30k, $26,655 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 84% of students at an average of $4,631. Most students borrow — 70% take federal loans to cover the gap.
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 · 636 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 | $21,727 |
| $30–48k | $22,460 |
| $48–75k | $23,239 |
| $75–110k | $23,432 |
| $110k+ | $26,655 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 680 of these 975 students, totalling $4,206,892 — an average of $6,187 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Hidalgo 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)