Is Passaic County Community College Worth It?

Passaic County Community College gives you a low upfront cost and a big return gap depending on what you study. At under $8,000 a year with median debt around $7,500, the debt load is small enough that you won't dig a deep hole. But the median earnings ten years out land below what a full-time minimum-wage job pays in New Jersey, which tells you the typical graduate here does not come out ahead financially. The 15% graduation rate is the bigger problem: most people who enroll never finish, and an unfinished degree still costs you tuition and time.

Nursing is the one program that changes the math. At roughly $74,000, it out-earns every other program here by more than double and clears the median wage in the region with room to spare. If you can get into the nursing track and finish it, this school pays off fast against its low price. Everything else clusters near $30,000 or below. Criminal justice, business, and social work all land in the low $30,000s, and graphic communications sits at the bottom near $25,000. Business does this with the lowest debt of any program listed, so it carries less risk even with modest pay.

Net price barely moves with income here. If your family earns under $30,000, you pay about $7,200. if you earn over $110,000, you pay roughly $9,300. Middle-income families in the $48,000 to $110,000 range actually pay the most.

This school fits you if you're going into nursing, or if you're using it as a cheap first two years before transferring to a four-year school. If you want a program outside nursing to be your final credential, the earnings numbers say look harder before you commit.