Iowa Lakes
Community College
Public Community College in Estherville, IA. Six-year graduation rate 50%. Median 10-year earnings $43,108.
Students who entered Iowa Lakes Community College land at a median of $43,108 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. The six-year graduation rate is 50%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Graduates leave owing a median of $12,000 — 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 0.28 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 1.0 — limited economic uplift documented
Academics
Completion is middling: 50% finish inside six years. First-year retention is 61% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. 14% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. Part-time students fare worse, returning at 38% — relevant if you plan to work while enrolled. The 13:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,036 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $13,278 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Income makes less difference than usual: $11,420 at $0–30k, $17,325 at $110k+. 73% of students receive grant aid, averaging $6,229 — common but not automatic. 37% 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 · 359 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 | $11,420 |
| $30–48k | $11,764 |
| $48–75k | $13,097 |
| $75–110k | $16,461 |
| $110k+ | $17,325 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 380 of these 1,036 students, totalling $2,602,336 — an average of $6,848 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Emmet County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
Heightened Cash Monitoring (Compliance Audit Late or Missing); School placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)