Sandhills Community College
Public Community College in Pinehurst, NC. Six-year graduation rate 53%. Median 10-year earnings $31,656.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $31,656, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. The six-year graduation rate is 53%, meaning about one in two students who start do not finish.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ! Mobility score 0.8 — limited economic uplift documented
Academics
Completion is middling: 53% finish inside six years. Retention is strong at 80%, and first-year attrition is where most degrees are lost. The distance between those two figures is the part worth noticing — students return for a second year at a much higher rate than they graduate, so attrition here is spread across the middle years rather than concentrated in the first. 21% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. Part-time students fare worse, returning at 51% — relevant if you plan to work while enrolled.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 2,375 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $6,513 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 $2,674 while those at $110k+ pay $12,360. About 70% get grants averaging $7,694, so plan on the possibility of paying closer to full price.
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 · 333 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 | $2,674 |
| $30–48k | $3,988 |
| $48–75k | $5,713 |
| $75–110k | $7,778 |
| $110k+ | $12,360 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Moore 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)