Three Rivers College
Public Community College in Poplar Bluff, MO. Six-year graduation rate 33%. Median 10-year earnings $32,442.
Ten-year median earnings of $32,442 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Completion is the weak point: 33% graduate within six years. Graduates leave owing a median of $10,000 — modest by four-year standards. It also moves people — 2.1% of students climb from the bottom fifth of the income distribution 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
- ! Graduation rate 33% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 33% graduate within six years. 66% of full-time first-years come back for year two, so about one in three are gone before sophomore year. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. 12% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The part-time picture is harder: 44% return, against 66% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,909 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $9,065 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. The gap between the $0–30k and $110k+ bands is narrow ($8,236 versus $12,597), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid is widespread — 89% of students receive it, averaging $8,631. 18% 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 · 460 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 | $8,236 |
| $30–48k | $6,570 |
| $48–75k | $9,980 |
| $75–110k | $12,034 |
| $110k+ | $12,597 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 338 of these 1,909 students, totalling $1,995,965 — an average of $5,905 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Butler 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)