Big Sandy
Community and Technical College
Public Community College in Prestonsburg, KY. Six-year graduation rate 38%. Median 10-year earnings $32,954.
Ten-year median earnings of $32,954 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Only 38% finish within six years, so roughly three in five students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Median debt at graduation is $9,357, a light load against those earnings.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.28 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 38% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. First-year retention is 61% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. 16% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The part-time picture is harder: 41% return, against 61% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,590 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $5,091 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($3,198 versus $7,877), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid is widespread — 91% of students receive it, averaging $6,947. 25% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
Entering first-year students
A different, smaller group than the rates above: full-time students in their first year of college anywhere. The grant series here also excludes the "other sources" counted in the all-undergraduate figure, so the two are not comparable.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · 372 students
Net price by family income
The same students as the headline above, limited to those who received Title IV federal aid — a narrower group, with a lower overall average. IPEDS publishes no combined figure across these bands, so they should not be averaged into one.
| Family income band | Average net price |
|---|---|
| $0–30k | $3,198 |
| $30–48k | $3,432 |
| $48–75k | $6,409 |
| $75–110k | $8,776 |
| $110k+ | $7,877 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 398 of these 1,590 students, totalling $2,418,936 — an average of $6,078 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Floyd County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)