Southern Careers Institute-Waco
For-profit College in Waco, TX. Six-year graduation rate 45%. 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. Six-year completion sits at 45%, near the national average for undergraduate institutions. 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
Six-year completion sits at 45%, meaning about three in five students who enroll leave without finishing. 59% first-year retention is low enough to be the defining risk of enrolling here. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. At 25:1, instructor access is thin — worth probing on a campus visit. 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 305 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price after grant aid is $22,910 a year — mid-range for a four-year institution. Net price varies modestly by income — $22,825 at $0–30k against $27,247 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. 77% of students receive grant aid, averaging $3,750 — common but not automatic. 59% 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 · 163 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 | $22,825 |
| $30–48k | $23,445 |
| $48–75k | $24,123 |
| $75–110k | $26,223 |
| $110k+ | $27,247 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 179 of these 305 students, totalling $922,876 — an average of $5,156 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (McLennan County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026