Monroe Community College
Public Community College in Rochester, NY. Six-year graduation rate 27%. Median 10-year earnings $40,174.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $40,174, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Only 27% finish within six years, so roughly three in four students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Borrowing stays contained, with median debt at graduation of $9,750.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.24 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 27% — below national average
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 27% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. 57% first-year retention is low enough to be the defining risk of enrolling here. 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. A 16% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 7,758 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $6,284 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $3,737 while those at $110k+ pay $13,933. About 66% get grants averaging $7,482, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price. Federal borrowing reaches 33% 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 · 1,536 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 | $3,737 |
| $30–48k | $5,081 |
| $48–75k | $8,810 |
| $75–110k | $11,432 |
| $110k+ | $13,933 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 2,556 of these 7,758 students, totalling $16,032,013 — an average of $6,272 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Monroe 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)