Chattahoochee Valley
Community College
Public Community College in Phenix City, AL. Six-year graduation rate 36%. Median 10-year earnings $36,438.
Students who entered Chattahoochee Valley Community College reach a median of $36,438 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. Completion is the weak point: 36% graduate within six years. Borrowing stays contained, with median debt at graduation of $10,500. It also moves people — 2.1% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.29 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Only 36% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential. Retention is weak: only 52% of full-time first-years return, so roughly one in two leave after one year. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. Transfer-out runs to 25% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. Retention drops to 27% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,043 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $4,680 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Income makes less difference than usual: $3,275 at $0–30k, $7,261 at $110k+. 83% of students receive grant aid, averaging $6,176 — common but not automatic. 43% 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 · 209 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 | $3,275 |
| $30–48k | $5,181 |
| $48–75k | $5,474 |
| $75–110k | $4,845 |
| $110k+ | $7,261 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 446 of these 1,043 students, totalling $2,906,477 — an average of $6,517 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Russell 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)