Montgomery College
Public Community College in Rockville, MD. Six-year graduation rate 32%. Median 10-year earnings $50,159.
Students who entered Montgomery College land at a median of $50,159 a decade later, close to what most four-year schools deliver. Completion is the weak point: 32% graduate within six years. Graduates leave owing a median of $10,415 — modest by four-year standards. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 3.0% 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.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.21 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 32% — below national average
Academics
Only 32% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential. Retention of 75% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. 19% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. Retention drops to 51% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 13,529 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $8,888 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Income makes less difference than usual: $6,932 at $0–30k, $14,146 at $110k+. Grant aid is limited — 46% of students receive any. Federal borrowing is uncommon here at 7% 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 · 1,595 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 | $6,932 |
| $30–48k | $7,163 |
| $48–75k | $8,558 |
| $75–110k | $10,862 |
| $110k+ | $14,146 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 925 of these 13,529 students, totalling $5,341,985 — an average of $5,775 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Montgomery 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)