-12%
Public associate's-predominant peer
10-year earnings at Southwest Tennessee Community College are 11% below the public associate's-predominant peer median ($34.1k vs $38.5k).
Tennessee · Public · Predominantly associate's
Southwest Tennessee Community College
Memphis, Tennessee. 5,207 undergraduate students. 47 programs in the federal Field-of-Study dataset.
ANOMALY ENGINE · NOTABLE SIGNALS
What the data flags at Southwest Tennessee Community College
Short-arc shifts (recent 3-year window), peer outliers, earnings trend breaks, completion drops, enrollment cliffs, and debt-to-earnings warnings — surfaced deterministically from the federal record. Multi-decade shifts are reported separately in the Long Arc section, since 25-year tuition drift isn't really an anomaly.
-26%
150%-time completion
150%-time completion at Southwest Tennessee Community College fell 26% between 2006 and 2009 (4.9% → 3.7%).
-23%
Undergraduate enrollment
Undergraduate enrollment fell 23% at Southwest Tennessee Community College vs the 2018–2022 baseline (5.2k vs 6.8k).
-18%
First-year retention
First-year retention at Southwest Tennessee Community College fell 18% between 2021 and 2024 (55.6% → 45.7%).
SECTION 01 · OUTCOMES SNAPSHOT
The numbers, vs. Tennessee
Each tile compares this institution to the Tennessee median for the same metric. Sub-line shows the comparison value, not an interpretation. Sparklines trace the federally available history.
$34,071+12% · 6→10y
Tennessee median $38,880$30,317
Treasury earnings · 6y post-entry19.4%-8% · '97→'09
Tennessee median 57.6%—-5% · '97→'09
At program completion5,207+3% · '96→'24
latest IPEDS52.7%-3% · '04→'24
first-time, full-time—±0% · '01→'17
latest cohort$4,550+231% · '00→'24
out-of-state $17,750SECTION 02 · EARNINGS HORIZONS
How earnings spread, 4 to 10 years after entry
Treasury tax-record earnings for federally aided students who first enrolled at this institution. Each point is a horizon from the most-recent vintage. Single median per horizon (no p25/p75 publishing).
Earnings widen with time post-entry. Selection: federal-aid recipients only — not all graduates.Methodology →
SECTION 04 · LONG ARC
Ten-plus year arc
Federally available history. Coverage varies by metric — IPEDS publishes some series only after 2009 and others only before.
Undergraduate enrollment.
150%-time completion rate.
Median federal student debt at exit.
+231%
Southwest Tennessee Community College · in-state tuition rose
$1,445 → $4,778
+234%
Southwest Tennessee Community College · out-of-state tuition rose
$5,321 → $17,750
-38%
Southwest Tennessee Community College · pell share fell
67.2% → 41.3%
+26%
Southwest Tennessee Community College · earnings_median_10yr rose
$27,100 → $34,071
+27%
Southwest Tennessee Community College · earnings_median_8yr rose
$25,400 → $32,323
+37%
Southwest Tennessee Community College · earnings_median_6yr rose
$22,200 → $30,317
SECTION 05 · PROGRAMS
Ranked by 5-year earnings
Each row is one (CIP × credential) program reported by the institution in College Scorecard's Field-of-Study data. Cohort floor is 30 students; below this, federal data is suppressed.
SECTION 06 · BY CIP FAMILY
4 programs with earnings, grouped
Programs are grouped by 2-digit CIP family. Programs without reported earnings are hidden to keep the list focused.
LIBERAL ARTS & GENERAL STUDIES · CIP 24
FINANCIAL OUTCOME · ILLUSTRATION
Estimate the financial outcome at Southwest Tennessee Community College
Pick a program. Cost from Scorecard net price by family income; earnings from Treasury 5-year-post-completion median, projected forward with a Mincer age-earnings curve. The selection-bias toggle applies the Dale-Krueger shrinkage. Outcomes illustration, not a forecast — see methodology.
Shrinks the earnings premium toward the matched-applicant mean. STEM <15%, business ~40%, arts & education ~60%.
NET PRESENT VALUE
$107,457
Over 40 years, discounted 5.0%
BREAKEVEN
Year 15
First year cumulative discounted earnings cross zero
- Cost per year
- $6,875
- HS-only baseline · TN
- $34,600
- Years to complete
- 2
- CIP family
- 24
Outcomes illustration · not a forecast. Projects observed Scorecard earnings forward with a Mincer age-earnings curve under your assumptions. See methodology for the math.
SECTION 07 · SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS
Same sector and degree mix in Tennessee
Picked by Carnegie sector × predominant credential level. These are not rankings — just nearest-neighbour surfaces for comparison.
CAUSAL DISCIPLINE
“Southwest Tennessee Community College graduates earn $X” — not “Southwest Tennessee Community College makes you earn $X”
Median earnings describe what cohorts earned. They do not describe what attending Southwest Tennessee Community College caused. Selection effects (who admits, who enrolls, who completes) are real. We publish federal data with strict descriptive phrasing — and link the methodology where you can read about the limitations directly.