Mountain Gateway
Community College
Public Community College in Clifton Forge, VA. Six-year graduation rate 38%. Median 10-year earnings $34,293.
Students who entered Mountain Gateway Community College reach a median of $34,293 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. The six-year graduation rate is 38% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Median debt at graduation is $9,182, 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
- ! Mobility score 0.3 — limited economic uplift documented
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 38% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. First-year retention is 60% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. The student-faculty ratio is 17:1 — typical, which in practice means large lectures early and smaller classes in the major. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 457 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $5,728 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($4,393 versus $7,152), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 77% of students at an average of $5,319. Only 11% 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 · 104 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 | $4,393 |
| $30–48k | $4,057 |
| $48–75k | $5,590 |
| $75–110k | $7,859 |
| $110k+ | $7,152 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 51 of these 457 students, totalling $306,452 — an average of $6,009 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Alleghany 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)