Panola College
Public Community College in Carthage, TX. Six-year graduation rate 43%. Median 10-year earnings $36,072.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $36,072, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. The six-year graduation rate is 44%, meaning about three in five students who start do not finish. Graduates leave owing a median of $10,500 — 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 0.29 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Six-year completion sits at 44%, meaning about three in five students who enroll leave without finishing. 58% first-year retention is low enough to be the defining risk of enrolling here. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. Retention drops to 25% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic. At 14:1, students get materially more instructor contact than at a typical public university.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,378 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $6,201 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($4,916 versus $8,414), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 77% of students at an average of $5,820. Federal borrowing is uncommon here at 13% 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 · 319 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 | $4,916 |
| $30–48k | $4,838 |
| $48–75k | $6,855 |
| $75–110k | $6,519 |
| $110k+ | $8,414 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 173 of these 1,378 students, totalling $846,389 — an average of $4,892 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Panola 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)