Meridian Community College
Public Community College in Meridian, MS. Six-year graduation rate 34%. Median 10-year earnings $31,002.
Students who entered Meridian Community College reach a median of $31,002 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. The six-year graduation rate is 34% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Graduates leave owing a median of $5,521 — modest by four-year standards. It also moves people — 2.3% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.18 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 34% — below national average
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 34% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. First-year retention is 66% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. The part-time picture is harder: 19% return, against 66% full-time. The student-faculty ratio is 16:1 — typical, which in practice means large lectures early and smaller classes in the major.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,025 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $7,789 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Most students get help: 94% receive grants worth $4,474 on average. Only 14% 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 · 390 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 | $6,351 |
| $30–48k | — |
| $48–75k | — |
| $75–110k | — |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 274 of these 2,025 students, totalling $1,406,044 — an average of $5,132 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Lauderdale 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)