Seward County
Community College
Public Community College in Liberal, KS. Six-year graduation rate 50%. Median 10-year earnings $41,445.
Ten-year median earnings of $41,445 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Six-year completion sits at 50%, near the national average for undergraduate institutions. Graduates leave owing a median of $6,500 — modest by four-year standards. Mobility is where this school separates itself: 2.1% of students move from the bottom income quintile to the top.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.16 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Six-year completion sits at 50%, meaning about one in two students who enroll leave without finishing. First-year retention is 66% — the single largest point of attrition on this campus. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. 15% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The part-time picture is harder: 50% return, against 66% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,140 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $7,295 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 $48–75k bands is narrow ($6,581 versus $8,979), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. 58% of students receive grant aid, averaging $5,780 — common but not automatic. Federal borrowing is uncommon here at 8% 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 · 358 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 | $6,581 |
| $30–48k | $9,065 |
| $48–75k | $8,979 |
| $75–110k | — |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 87 of these 1,140 students, totalling $393,700 — an average of $4,525 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Seward 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)