Porterville College
Public Community College in Porterville, CA. Six-year graduation rate 34%. Median 10-year earnings $36,328.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $36,328, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Only 34% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential they enrolled for.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ! Graduation rate 34% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 34% graduate within six years. Just 51% of first-years come back — most of the completion gap opens in year one. Retention and graduation track closely, so most of the attrition shows up in the first year rather than after it. Retention drops to 12% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic. The 25:1 student-faculty ratio is high, so large classes and limited faculty contact should be the expectation.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,775 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $14,733 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. The gap between the $0–30k and $75–110k bands is narrow ($12,113 versus $16,825), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. 82% of students receive grant aid, averaging $4,824 — common but not automatic.
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 · 87 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 | $12,113 |
| $30–48k | $11,641 |
| $48–75k | $13,228 |
| $75–110k | $16,825 |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 3 of these 2,775 students, totalling $10,392 — an average of $3,464 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Tulare 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)