Southern Maine
Community College
Public Community College in South Portland, ME. Six-year graduation rate 28%. Median 10-year earnings $41,661.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $41,661, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Completion is the weak point: 28% graduate within six years. Median debt at graduation is $10,331, 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 0.25 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 28% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 28% graduate within six years. Just 57% of first-years come back — most of the completion gap opens in year one. Retention runs well ahead of completion, which means students are not leaving immediately; they are leaving somewhere between the second year and the finish line. 16% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. A 20:1 ratio is unremarkable; expect a mix of lecture halls and seminars.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 5,246 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $14,341 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($9,654 versus $14,660), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. 92% of students get grant aid averaging $5,081, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. Only 16% take federal loans. Private borrowing is not captured in this figure.
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 · 1,489 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 | $9,654 |
| $30–48k | $10,090 |
| $48–75k | $11,666 |
| $75–110k | $12,946 |
| $110k+ | $14,660 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 851 of these 5,246 students, totalling $4,361,495 — an average of $5,125 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Cumberland 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)