Southern Union
State Community College
Public Community College in Wadley, AL. Six-year graduation rate 36%. Median 10-year earnings $36,597.
Students who entered Southern Union State Community College reach a median of $36,597 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. The six-year graduation rate is 36% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Borrowing stays contained, with median debt at graduation of $11,000.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.30 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Only 36% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential. Retention of 67% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. Transfer-out runs to 30% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. Retention drops to 38% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 3,888 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $6,924 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($3,543 versus $10,953), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 59% of students at an average of $6,953. About 27% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 1,148 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 | $3,543 |
| $30–48k | $5,160 |
| $48–75k | $7,173 |
| $75–110k | $10,247 |
| $110k+ | $10,953 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,048 of these 3,888 students, totalling $4,643,470 — an average of $4,431 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Randolph 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)