Parkland College
Public Community College in Champaign, IL. Six-year graduation rate 32%. Median 10-year earnings $38,320.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $38,320, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Completion is the weak point: 32% graduate within six years. Borrowing stays contained, with median debt at graduation of $8,548.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.22 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 32% — below national average
Academics
Only 32% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential. First-year retention is 70% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. Retention runs well ahead of completion, which means students are not leaving immediately; they are leaving somewhere between the second year and the finish line. Transfer-out runs to 26% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. Retention drops to 55% 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 3,294 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $7,681 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Income makes less difference than usual: $7,659 at $0–30k, $14,995 at $110k+. 47% get grants, which means the net price above will not apply to most applicants. Only 19% 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 · 638 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 | $7,659 |
| $30–48k | $6,888 |
| $48–75k | $10,408 |
| $75–110k | $14,299 |
| $110k+ | $14,995 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 625 of these 3,294 students, totalling $2,073,672 — an average of $3,318 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Champaign 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)