N.J. College Return on Investment Explorer

✕Average price/yr. (after aid) What students really pay for a year once grants and scholarships are subtracted — not the sticker price.

✕Median debt The median amount graduates borrowed in federal student loans — half borrowed more, half borrowed less. Doesn't count private loans or loans parents take out.

✕Median pay, 10 yrs out The median yearly pay of former students 10 years after starting at the school — half earned more, half earned less. Taken from tax records, not a survey.

✕Pay ÷ debt Median yearly pay divided by median debt — a rough measure of return on investment. A ratio of 3 means graduates earn about three times what they borrowed in a year; a ratio below 1.5 means a year's pay is less than one-and-a-half times the debt. This page shades ratios of 3 or more green and ratios under 1.5 red.

✕Grad rate The share of students who actually finish — measured within one-and-a-half times the normal program length, so six years for a bachelor's degree.

✕Price by family income The same after-aid price, split by family income from the federal financial-aid form — so you can see what a family like yours typically paid. Blank means too few students in that group to report.

✕Default rate The share of a school's borrowers who defaulted — went at least nine months without payments — within three years of entering repayment. After a default, federal law allows the government to collect by withholding part of a paycheck or tax refund, and student loans generally cannot be discharged in bankruptcy.

✕Pay gap Average pay of men and women 10 years after starting at the school. The government reports this split only as averages, which run higher than the median figures elsewhere on this page; the gap between the two is the comparable figure.

✕Which schools are included? This tool covers every New Jersey school where students can use federal financial aid — from Princeton and Rutgers to county colleges, trade and technical schools, yeshivas, nursing and cosmetology academies, and for-profit career schools. That's why very different kinds of schools appear side by side.

✕A key limitation: every number here counts only students who received federal grants or loans. Students who paid without federal help aren't included, and neither are graduates who were still in graduate school when pay was measured. This limitation is the most common criticism of the federal data, and it has the largest effect at schools where fewer students borrow.