Luna Community College
Public Community College in Las Vegas, NM. Six-year graduation rate 28%. Median 10-year earnings $32,461.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $32,461, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. The six-year graduation rate is 28% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.2% 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.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 28% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 28% graduate within six years. Retention is weak: only 43% of full-time first-years return, so roughly three in five leave after one year. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. At 11:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 483 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $5,497 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Income makes less difference than usual: $3,393 at $0–30k, $8,602 at $110k+. 46% get grants, which means the net price above will not apply to most applicants. Only 3% 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 · 128 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 | $3,393 |
| $30–48k | $2,962 |
| $48–75k | $6,329 |
| $75–110k | $7,240 |
| $110k+ | $8,602 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 16 of these 483 students, totalling $46,416 — an average of $2,901 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (San Miguel 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, Heightened Cash Monitoring (Compliance Audit Late or Missing); Heightened Cash Monitoring; School placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)