Tarrant County College District 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
- Fort Worth, TX
- About 4,102 graduates a year
College Scorecard June 2026 release · BLS wages May 2025
The short answer
Tarrant County College District liberal arts and general studies graduates earn about what liberal arts and general studies graduates earn nationally, $30,179 in their first year. The typical graduate leaves with $10,944 in federal loans, close to the national median of $10,864. Several Texas programs report higher pay.
How it compares
Each figure is the median for graduates of the program. The Texas and national columns are the medians across all liberal arts and general studies associate's programs that report the figure.
Five years out, Tarrant County College District graduates earn more than the national figure and about $3,841 more than the Texas median.
Debt and first-year pay at every Texas liberal arts and general studies program
Programs in the upper left give graduates higher pay for less debt. Dashed lines mark the Texas 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 51% between the first and fifth year.
Year 1 and year 5 figures come from different graduating classes, so the growth rate is an estimate.
Does family income change the outcome?
Graduates who received Pell Grants, which go to students from lower-income families, earned slightly more in their first year than other graduates, but borrowed more: a median of $11,894 against $7,250.
Paying back the loans
On a standard 10-year plan, the median debt means a payment of about $116 a month, or 4.6% 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, 183 parents took out Parent PLUS loans for these students, with a median of $8,463.
Where graduates work, and what the pay is worth
95% of graduates (1,126 of 1,183) were working in Texas one year after graduating. Prices in the Dallas area are about 3% above the national average, so a $30,179 salary here buys what about $29,274 buys in a typical US city.
About Tarrant County College District
Liberal Arts and General Studies ranks 8th of 9 associate's programs at Tarrant County College District by first-year earnings. The top three are Nursing ($72,069), Dental Hygiene and Assisting ($65,537), and Diagnostic and Treatment Professions ($57,721).
Other liberal arts and general studies associate's programs near Fort Worth
Common questions
The median graduate earns $30,179 one year after graduating and $45,561 five years after. The median across liberal arts and general studies associate's programs in Texas is $27,180.
The median federal loan balance is $10,944, which ranks 26th lowest of 46 liberal arts and general studies associate's programs in Texas. That works out to about $116 a month over 10 years.
On the numbers, yes for most students. Debt equals 36% of first-year earnings, against a national median of 38%, and the share of borrowers in default two years into repayment is 5–6%. If the highest possible early salary is the main goal, several Texas programs report higher pay, usually with more debt.
Most do. 95% (1,126 of 1,183) were working in Texas 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 Texas 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