Lower Columbia College
Public Community College in Longview, WA. Six-year graduation rate 23%. Median 10-year earnings $40,691.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $40,691, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Completion is the weak point: 23% graduate within six years. Graduates leave owing a median of $10,506 — 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 0.26 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 23% — below national average
Academics
Only 23% finish within six years, so roughly three in four students leave without the credential. At 15:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. This is a public four-year university, so read every rate on this page against that peer group specifically. 2,412 undergraduates makes this a mid-sized institution.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,743 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $9,950 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $6,078 while those at $110k+ pay $14,192. 72% of students receive grant aid, averaging $7,652 — common but not automatic. 18% borrow federally — a low rate, though it covers federal loans only.
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 · 272 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 | $6,078 |
| $30–48k | $7,069 |
| $48–75k | $9,483 |
| $75–110k | $10,482 |
| $110k+ | $14,192 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 313 of these 1,743 students, totalling $2,152,496 — an average of $6,877 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Cowlitz 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)