Contra Costa College
Public Community College in San Pablo, CA. Six-year graduation rate 28%. Median 10-year earnings $40,850.
Ten-year median earnings of $40,850 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. The six-year graduation rate is 28% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 28% — below national average
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 28% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. Retention of 72% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. The part-time picture is harder: 38% return, against 72% full-time. At 22:1, class sizes land in the normal range for an undergraduate institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,805 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $11,384 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Net price varies modestly by income — $8,523 at $0–30k against $9,567 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. 61% of students receive grant aid, averaging $4,416 — common but not automatic. Only 2% take federal loans. Private borrowing is not captured in this figure.
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 · 387 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 | $8,523 |
| $30–48k | $8,111 |
| $48–75k | $9,742 |
| $75–110k | $14,269 |
| $110k+ | $9,567 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 83 of these 4,805 students, totalling $637,327 — an average of $7,679 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Contra Costa County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
Probation or Equivalent or a More Severe Status: Warning (Additional oversight is required to ensure a resolution of compliance issues); School has an accreditation issue
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)