Southwestern College
Public Community College in Chula Vista, CA. Six-year graduation rate 36%. Median 10-year earnings $40,060.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $40,060, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Completion is the weak point: 36% graduate within six years. Graduates leave owing a median of $4,500 — modest by four-year standards. It also moves people — 2.4% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution 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 0.11 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 36% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. First-year retention is 70% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. 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. Retention drops to 39% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic. The 26:1 student-faculty ratio is high, so large classes and limited faculty contact should be the expectation.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 16,640 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $15,148 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $11,380 while those at $110k+ pay $20,045. About 67% get grants averaging $5,825, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. 6% borrow federally — a low rate, though it covers federal loans only.
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 · 2,326 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 | $11,380 |
| $30–48k | $11,634 |
| $48–75k | $14,332 |
| $75–110k | $18,484 |
| $110k+ | $20,045 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 935 of these 16,640 students, totalling $5,914,347 — an average of $6,326 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (San Diego 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)