Mendocino College
Public Community College in Ukiah, CA. Six-year graduation rate 25%. Median 10-year earnings $40,243.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $40,243, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Completion is the weak point: 25% graduate within six years. Median debt at graduation is $10,836, a light load against those earnings.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.27 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 25% — below national average
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 25% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. 63% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about two in five are gone before sophomore year. 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. 16% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The part-time picture is harder: 32% return, against 63% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,857 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $9,798 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Income makes less difference than usual: $7,306 at $0–30k, $15,096 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 65% of students at an average of $5,609. 4% 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 · 119 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 | $7,306 |
| $30–48k | $5,869 |
| $48–75k | $10,025 |
| $75–110k | $13,673 |
| $110k+ | $15,096 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 118 of these 2,857 students, totalling $912,411 — an average of $7,732 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Mendocino 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)