Lamar State College-Orange
Public Community College in Orange, TX. Six-year graduation rate 37%. Median 10-year earnings $36,587.
Ten-year median earnings of $36,587 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Only 37% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Graduates leave owing a median of $10,959 — modest by four-year standards. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 3.3% of students move from the bottom income quintile to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.30 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Only 37% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential. First-year retention is 69% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention runs well ahead of completion, which means students are not leaving immediately; they are leaving somewhere between the second year and the finish line. 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. Retention drops to 49% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,426 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $600 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($384 versus $7,264), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 61% of students at an average of $5,743. Only 23% 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 · 237 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 | $384 |
| $30–48k | $2,693 |
| $48–75k | $1,836 |
| $75–110k | $4,534 |
| $110k+ | $7,264 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 327 of these 1,426 students, totalling $1,943,576 — an average of $5,944 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Orange 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)