College of Southern Maryland (CSM) vs Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC)

College of Southern Maryland (CSM) and Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) stand out as two prominent community colleges, each offering unique educational opportunities. CSM boasts an impressive 100% acceptance rate, welcoming students from diverse backgrounds, while RVCC maintains a slightly more selective admissions process with an acceptance rate of 88%. Both institutions offer a wide range of academic programs, with CSM specializing in healthcare, business, and education, and RVCC excelling in STEM fields, liberal arts, and social sciences. While CSM's student body comprises predominantly female students, RVCC's population is more evenly balanced between genders. CSM's graduation rate stands at 22%, while RVCC's is slightly higher at 25%. To help you make an informed decision about your higher education journey, we present a comprehensive comparison of these two esteemed institutions, highlighting key differences in acceptance rates, popular majors, student demographics, and graduation outcomes.

	College of Southern Maryland	Raritan Valley Community College
Overview
Location	La Plata, Maryland	Branchburg, New Jersey
Campus setting	Rural: Fringe	Rural: Fringe
College type	2 year	2 year
Control/business model	Public	Public
Calendar system	Semester	Semester
Degrees offered	Undergraduate	Undergraduate
Students retention rate	66.0%	70.0%
Common app member	No	No
Religious affiliation

Admission
Acceptance rate	Open Admission	98.6%
Application fees		$25
SAT range	N/A	N/A
ACT range	N/A	N/A
Students submitting SAT score
Students submitting ACT score
Total number of applicants		2,325
Total number of admissions given out		2,293
Admitted students who chose to enroll		1,405
Yield rate		61.3%
Test scores (SAT/ACT)	Not required
High school GPA	N/A	N/A
Recommendation letters	N/A	N/A
High school transcript	N/A	N/A
English proficiency test (e.g. TOEFL)	N/A	N/A

Tuition and Fees
Sticker price	In state: $23,706 Out of state: $25,686	$21,837
Average net price	$7,549	$7,412
Tuition	In state: $5,640 Out of state: $7,224	$5,712
Room & board
Available payment plans	Tuition payment plan	Tuition payment plan

Financial Aid
Students receiving financial aid (Grants & scholarships)	54.0% Average amount $4,644	48.0% Average amount $6,269
Students receiving federal student loan	7.0% Average amount $4,954	7.0% Average amount $5,173
Students taking out private loans	0.0% Average amount $5,250	1.0% Average amount $6,197

Students and Campus
Undergraduate students	5,660 Men 36.8% Women 63.2%	6,688 Men 48.5% Women 51.5%
Graduate students	N/A	N/A
Racial/ethnic diversity	Moderate	Moderate
Out-of-state students	0.9%	0.3%
International students	0.4%	1.5%
Campus local/setting	Rural: Fringe	Rural: Fringe
Dormitory capacity	N/A	N/A
First year students are required to live on campus?	N/A	N/A
Top 5 states where most U.S. students come from	Maryland Virginia District of Columbia New Jersey Oregon	New Jersey Pennsylvania Florida

Academics
Popular study areas	Liberal Arts Health Professions Business Computer and Information Science Law Enforcement and Firefighting	Business Liberal Arts Health Professions Multidisciplinary Studies Law Enforcement and Firefighting
Students to faculty ratio	17:1	18:1
Institutional accreditation	Middle States Commission on Higher Education	Middle States Commission on Higher Education

Outcome
Graduation rate	31.2%	27.9%
Dropout rate	45.2%	35.1%
Transferred out	10.9%	19.2%
Alumni salary by major (Top 10)	Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: $57,691 Year 2: $56,641 Year 3: $61,812 Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: $25,903 Year 2: $23,042 Year 3: $30,579 Business/Commerce, General (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: $33,332 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A	Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: $65,605 Year 2: $64,791 Year 3: $73,939 Business/Commerce, General (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: $19,121 Year 2: $36,134 Year 3: $45,994 Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: $19,589 Year 2: $23,803 Year 3: $33,623 Criminal Justice and Corrections (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: $30,370 Year 2: $37,748 Year 3: $32,900 Multi/Interdisciplinary Studies, Other (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $20,687 Year 3: N/A Electrical and Power Transmission Installers (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: $122,145 Year 2: N/A Year 3: N/A Management Information Systems and Services (Associate's Degrees) Year 1: N/A Year 2: $39,927 Year 3: N/A

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