New Mexico
State University-Grants
Public Community College in Grants, NM. Six-year graduation rate 26%. Median 10-year earnings $39,067.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $39,067, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Completion is the weak point: 26% graduate within six years. Graduates carry a median of $17,095 in debt — in line with the national norm.
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
- ! Graduation rate 26% — below national average
Academics
Only 26% finish within six years, so roughly three in four students leave without the credential. Just 58% of first-years come back — most of the completion gap opens in year one. 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. Transfer-out runs to 14% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. The part-time picture is harder: 27% return, against 58% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 351 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $1,864 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The gap between the $0–30k and $75–110k bands is narrow ($248 versus $-3,338), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. 71% of students receive grant aid, averaging $6,728 — common but not automatic. Federal borrowing is uncommon here at 3% 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 · 79 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 | $248 |
| $30–48k | $-789 |
| $48–75k | $846 |
| $75–110k | $-3,338 |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 11 of these 351 students, totalling $28,152 — an average of $2,559 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Cibola 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)