Pikes Peak
State College
Public Community College in Colorado Springs, CO. Six-year graduation rate 21%. Median 10-year earnings $40,796.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $40,796, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. The six-year graduation rate is 21% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Graduates leave owing a median of $9,000 — 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 0.22 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 21% — below national average
Academics
Only 21% finish within six years, so roughly four in five students leave without the credential. 27% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. A 22:1 ratio is unremarkable; expect a mix of lecture halls and seminars. Judge these figures against other institutions of the same type — sector explains more of the variation in completion than any single campus factor. The undergraduate body runs to 12,388, large enough that student experience varies widely by program.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 9,290 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $5,609 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Aid is steeply need-based: families in the $0–30k band pay $3,811 while those at $110k+ pay $17,700. Grant aid is limited — 47% of students receive any. Federal borrowing is uncommon here at 19% 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 · 1,015 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 | $3,811 |
| $30–48k | $3,941 |
| $48–75k | $6,411 |
| $75–110k | $10,968 |
| $110k+ | $17,700 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 1,789 of these 9,290 students, totalling $7,012,279 — an average of $3,920 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (El Paso 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)