Northwest Technical College
Public Community College in Bemidji, MN. Six-year graduation rate 50%. Median 10-year earnings $42,930.
The median ten-year earnings figure of $42,930 sits near the national middle rather than at either extreme. The six-year graduation rate is 50%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish. Graduates leave owing a median of $15,000 — modest by four-year standards.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.35 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Six-year completion sits at 50%, meaning about one in two students who enroll leave without finishing. Retention of 74% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. 13% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. Retention drops to 56% 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 654 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $8,910 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $6,638 while those at $110k+ pay $16,137. 68% of students receive grant aid, averaging $5,807 — common but not automatic. 46% of students take federal loans, a middling borrowing rate.
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 · 92 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 | $6,638 |
| $30–48k | $7,948 |
| $48–75k | $10,641 |
| $75–110k | $13,654 |
| $110k+ | $16,137 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 298 of these 654 students, totalling $1,911,746 — an average of $6,415 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Beltrami 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)