Chemeketa Community College
Public Community College in Salem, OR. Six-year graduation rate 21%. Median 10-year earnings $40,968.
Ten-year median earnings of $40,968 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Only 21% finish within six years, so roughly four in five students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Graduates leave owing a median of $12,822 — modest by four-year standards.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.31 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 21% — below national average
Academics
Only 21% finish within six years, so roughly four in five students leave without the credential. 18% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. At 22:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution. As a public four-year university, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions. With 7,433 undergraduates, the school sits in the middle of the size distribution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 6,457 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $8,163 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Net price swings hard on family income here, from $6,346 at the $0–30k band to $15,167 at $110k+. About 58% get grants averaging $6,256, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. 19% borrow federally — a low rate, though it covers federal loans only.
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 · 1,162 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 | $6,346 |
| $30–48k | $6,515 |
| $48–75k | $8,932 |
| $75–110k | $11,689 |
| $110k+ | $15,167 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,242 of these 6,457 students, totalling $7,348,408 — an average of $5,917 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Marion 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)