Columbia College
Public Community College in Sonora, CA. Six-year graduation rate 27%. Median 10-year earnings $39,035.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $39,035, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Only 27% finish within six years, so roughly three in four students leave without the credential they enrolled for.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ! Graduation rate 27% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 27% graduate within six years. Just 58% of first-years come back — most of the completion gap opens in year one. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. Part-time students fare worse, returning at 30% — relevant if you plan to work while enrolled. At 21:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,917 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $12,358 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($10,095 versus $12,813), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 72% of students at an average of $4,218.
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 · 259 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 | $10,095 |
| $30–48k | $10,910 |
| $48–75k | $13,961 |
| $75–110k | $15,762 |
| $110k+ | $12,813 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Tuolumne 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)