Southwestern Oregon
Community College
Public Community College in Coos Bay, OR. Six-year graduation rate 40%. Median 10-year earnings $38,349.
Ten-year median earnings of $38,349 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. The six-year graduation rate is 40% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Borrowing stays contained, with median debt at graduation of $12,000. On economic mobility, 2.0% of students travel 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 0.31 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 40% graduate within six years. Just 57% 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. Transfer-out runs to 23% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. Retention drops to 41% for part-time students, a gap worth weighing if full-time study is not realistic.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,199 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $10,051 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Net price varies modestly by income — $6,414 at $0–30k against $13,702 at $110k+ — so the average is a fair guide for most families. 84% of students receive grant aid, averaging $7,003 — common but not automatic. 24% 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 · 377 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 | $6,414 |
| $30–48k | $7,062 |
| $48–75k | $8,238 |
| $75–110k | $12,342 |
| $110k+ | $13,702 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 285 of these 1,199 students, totalling $1,475,904 — an average of $5,179 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Coos 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)