Odessa College
Public Community College in Odessa, TX. Six-year graduation rate 37%. Median 10-year earnings $42,026.
The median ten-year earnings figure of $42,026 sits near the national middle rather than at either extreme. Only 37% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Median debt at graduation is $7,750, a light load against those earnings. It also moves people — 4.7% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution 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 0.18 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 37% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. First-year retention is 66% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. 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. Retention drops to 47% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic. At 24:1, instructor access is thin — worth probing on a campus visit.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 4,176 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $7,371 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 ($5,648 versus $10,586), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 63% of students at an average of $5,245. 3% borrow federally — a low rate, though it covers federal loans only.
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 · 639 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 | $5,648 |
| $30–48k | $6,001 |
| $48–75k | $8,407 |
| $75–110k | $9,864 |
| $110k+ | $10,586 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 132 of these 4,176 students, totalling $328,872 — an average of $2,491 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Ector 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)