Cape Fear Community College Liberal Arts and General Studies (Associate's): Tuition, Graduate Salary, and Debt
- Associate's in Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities
- Public college
- Wilmington, NC
- About 962 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Cape Fear Community College liberal arts and general studies graduates earn about what liberal arts and general studies graduates earn nationally, $30,056 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $8,734 in federal loans, close to the national median of $10,864. It is one of the higher-paying liberal arts and general studies degrees in North Carolina.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The North Carolina and national columns are the medians across all liberal arts and general studies associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Cape Fear Community College graduates earn about the national figure and about $3,898 more than the North Carolina median.
Debt and first-year pay at every North Carolina liberal arts and general studies program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the North Carolina medians.
Hover over or tap a dot to see the school. Only programs that report both earnings and debt are shown.
What graduates earn over time
Pay rises about 33% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $93 a month, or 3.7% of a graduate's typical monthly pay in the first year.
The government publishes these as ranges to protect privacy. They were measured in 2018 to 2020, partly during the pandemic pause on federal loan payments, so the forbearance share may be higher than usual. Separately, 25 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $8,847.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
95% of graduates (59 of 62) were working in North Carolina one year after graduating. Prices in the Wilmington area are about 4% below the national average, so a $30,056 salary here buys what about $31,171 buys in a typical US city.
About Cape Fear Community College
Liberal Arts and General Studies is the only associate's program at Cape Fear Community College that reports first-year earnings.
Other liberal arts and general studies associate's programs near Wilmington
Common questions
The median graduate earns $30,056 one year after graduating and $40,084 five years after. The median across liberal arts and general studies associate's programs in North Carolina is $26,838.
The median federal loan balance is $8,734, which ranks 25th lowest of 39 liberal arts and general studies associate's programs in North Carolina. That works out to about $93 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 29% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 38%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 20% or less. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several North Carolina programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 95% (59 of 62) were working in North Carolina one year after graduating.
About this data
- Earnings and debt only include students who received federal financial aid (grants or loans).
- Earnings only count graduates who were working and not enrolled in more school. Graduates who went straight to further study are not included.
- Debt only includes federal loans. Private loans and credit cards are not counted.
- Some schools with several campuses report one combined figure for all of them. We count each of those schools once, and leave them out of North Carolina comparisons when their main campus is in another state.
- Scorecard figures describe graduating classes from several years ago. BLS wages are from May 2025.
- School-level numbers like tuition, admission rate, and graduation rate are for the whole school, not the liberal arts and general studies program.
Sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard, field of study and institution files, June 2026 release
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2025
- Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections 2025 to 2035
- Bureau of Economic Analysis, Regional Price Parities, 2024
- NCES, CIP 2020 to SOC 2018 crosswalk, and IPEDS institution directory, 2024