Clark College
Public Community College in Vancouver, WA. Six-year graduation rate 39%. Median 10-year earnings $42,356.
Students who entered Clark College land at a median of $42,356 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 39% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Borrowing stays contained, with median debt at graduation of $10,881.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.26 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.1% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 1.0 — limited economic uplift documented
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 39% graduate within six years. A 12% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here. The 12:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. The undergraduate population is 7,149 — big enough for a real range of programs, small enough to navigate.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,699 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $13,528 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $8,773 while those at $110k+ pay $17,813. 59% of students receive grant aid, averaging $7,313 — common but not automatic. 33% 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 · 895 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 | $8,773 |
| $30–48k | $10,015 |
| $48–75k | $13,291 |
| $75–110k | $16,017 |
| $110k+ | $17,813 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,535 of these 4,699 students, totalling $9,593,877 — an average of $6,250 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Clark 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)