Laredo College
Public Community College in Laredo, TX. Six-year graduation rate 30%. Median 10-year earnings $33,934.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $33,934, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Only 31% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Graduates leave owing a median of $2,959 — modest by four-year standards. It also moves people — 6.7% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution to the top. Weigh all of that against a 20.0% three-year default rate, which is high.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.09 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ Mobility score 6.7 — top quartile among US colleges
- ! Graduation rate 30% — below national average
- ! 3-year loan default 20.0% — elevated
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 31% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. The 39:1 student-faculty ratio is high, so large classes and limited faculty contact should be the expectation. As a public four-year university, the relevant comparison is other four-year schools rather than the national average across all institutions. 10,192 undergraduates puts this among the larger schools, which usually means more choice and less individual attention.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 5,086 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $5,363 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($5,457 versus $5,912), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 81% of students at an average of $5,742.
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 · 1,189 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 | $5,457 |
| $30–48k | $5,909 |
| $48–75k | $7,551 |
| $75–110k | $8,460 |
| $110k+ | $5,912 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Webb 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)