Tyler Junior College
Public Community College in Tyler, TX. Six-year graduation rate 27%. Median 10-year earnings $38,140.
Ten-year median earnings of $38,140 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Completion is the weak point: 27% graduate within six years. Graduates leave owing a median of $11,995 — modest by four-year standards. It also moves people — 2.1% 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 0.31 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 27% — below national average
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 27% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. First-year retention is 60% — 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. A 28% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 9,064 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $9,292 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($8,425 versus $15,517), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 58% of students at an average of $6,184. Federal borrowing reaches 25% of students.
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 · 2,177 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 | $8,425 |
| $30–48k | $9,542 |
| $48–75k | $11,659 |
| $75–110k | $14,172 |
| $110k+ | $15,517 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,265 of these 9,064 students, totalling $12,734,803 — an average of $5,622 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Smith 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)