Northwest College
Public Community College in Powell, WY. Six-year graduation rate 49%. Median 10-year earnings $36,950.
Students who entered Northwest College reach a median of $36,950 a decade later, a figure that trails the typical four-year outcome. The six-year graduation rate is 49%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Graduates leave owing a median of $10,000 — modest by four-year standards. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.2% 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 0.27 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Six-year completion sits at 49%, meaning about one in two students who enroll leave without finishing. At 14:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. This is a small school — 1,379 undergraduates — so cohorts are tight and the program list is necessarily short.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 829 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $10,044 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($7,390 versus $7,821), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid is widespread — 86% of students receive it, averaging $8,087. Only 12% 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 · 282 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 | $7,390 |
| $30–48k | $6,822 |
| $48–75k | $7,961 |
| $75–110k | — |
| $110k+ | $7,821 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 98 of these 829 students, totalling $565,601 — an average of $5,771 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Park 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)