Richland Community College
Public Community College in Decatur, IL. Six-year graduation rate 60%. Median 10-year earnings $38,793.
Ten-year median earnings of $38,793 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. 60% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential. Median debt at graduation is $8,256, a light load against those earnings.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.21 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Mobility score 1.0 — limited economic uplift documented
Academics
Completion is middling: 60% finish inside six years. Retention of 60% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. A 13% transfer-out rate accounts for part of that gap: those students left for another institution rather than dropping out, and the graduation rate above counts them as non-completers here. The part-time picture is harder: 40% return, against 60% full-time. The 15:1 student-faculty ratio is small enough that seminar-sized classes are the norm.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,412 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $4,527 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 $110k+ bands is narrow ($3,303 versus $7,683), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 78% of students at an average of $5,125. 11% 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 · 42 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 | $3,303 |
| $30–48k | $1,709 |
| $48–75k | $6,746 |
| $75–110k | $3,446 |
| $110k+ | $7,683 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 149 of these 1,412 students, totalling $600,565 — an average of $4,031 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Macon County) — budget these against any cost-of-attendance housing estimate.
HUD Fair Market Rents (40th-percentile gross rent incl. utilities) · FY2026
Veterans & GI Bill
Heightened Cash Monitoring (Compliance Audit Late or Missing); School placed on Heightened Cash Monitoring
VA GI Bill Comparison Tool (Veterans Affairs GIDS)