Merced College
Public Community College in Merced, CA. Six-year graduation rate 36%. Median 10-year earnings $37,815.
Ten-year median earnings of $37,815 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Only 36% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential they enrolled for. On economic mobility, 2.3% of students travel 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
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 36% graduate within six years. Retention of 63% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. 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. Retention drops to 33% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic. At 28:1, instructor access is thin — worth probing on a campus visit.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 9,677 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $6,854 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Income makes less difference than usual: $4,155 at $0–30k, $10,902 at $110k+. Grant aid reaches 74% of students at an average of $5,467. Federal borrowing is uncommon here at 1% of students.
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 · 1,400 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 | $4,155 |
| $30–48k | $4,862 |
| $48–75k | $5,562 |
| $75–110k | $9,933 |
| $110k+ | $10,902 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 96 of these 9,677 students, totalling $635,545 — an average of $6,620 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Merced 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)