Southwest Tennessee
Community College
Public Community College in Memphis, TN. Six-year graduation rate 19%. Median 10-year earnings $34,071.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $34,071, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Only 19% finish within six years, so roughly four in five students leave without the credential they enrolled for.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ! Graduation rate 19% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 19% graduate within six years. Just 46% of first-years come back — most of the completion gap opens in year one. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. 16% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The part-time picture is harder: 19% return, against 46% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 5,260 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $5,396 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Income makes less difference than usual: $4,286 at $0–30k, $6,815 at $110k+. 78% of students receive grant aid, averaging $5,722 — common but not automatic.
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 · 1,061 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 | $4,286 |
| $30–48k | $4,304 |
| $48–75k | $6,567 |
| $75–110k | $6,796 |
| $110k+ | $6,815 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Shelby 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)