Delta College
Public Community College in University Center, MI. Six-year graduation rate 27%. Median 10-year earnings $37,781.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $37,781, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. The six-year graduation rate is 27% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Borrowing stays contained, with median debt at graduation of $10,978.
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
- ! Graduation rate 27% — below national average
Academics
Only 27% finish within six years, so roughly three in four students leave without the credential. Retention of 62% 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. Transfer-out runs to 22% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. The part-time picture is harder: 45% return, against 62% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 6,061 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $5,610 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The income table below is the number that matters — $2,819 at $0–30k versus $11,755 at $110k+. 73% of students receive grant aid, averaging $6,506 — common but not automatic. Only 14% 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 · 710 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 | $2,819 |
| $30–48k | $2,237 |
| $48–75k | $5,500 |
| $75–110k | $8,199 |
| $110k+ | $11,755 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 859 of these 6,061 students, totalling $4,368,826 — an average of $5,086 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Bay 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)