Wharton County
Junior College
Public Community College in Wharton, TX. Six-year graduation rate 27%. Median 10-year earnings $44,960.
Students who entered Wharton County Junior College land at a median of $44,960 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Completion is the weak point: 27% graduate within six years. Graduates leave owing a median of $7,703 — modest by four-year standards. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.9% of students move from the bottom income quintile 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 0.17 — 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. Retention of 71% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. 30% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. Retention drops to 50% 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 4,832 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $3,754 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The income table below is the number that matters — $1,779 at $0–30k versus $10,787 at $110k+. 40% get grants, which means the net price above will not apply to most applicants. 19% 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 · 918 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 | $1,779 |
| $30–48k | $2,267 |
| $48–75k | $5,236 |
| $75–110k | $9,365 |
| $110k+ | $10,787 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 924 of these 4,832 students, totalling $4,585,698 — an average of $4,963 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Wharton 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)