Valley College-Martinsburg
Private Community College in Martinsburg, WV. Six-year graduation rate 38%. Median 10-year earnings $24,900.
Ten-year median earnings of $24,900 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. The six-year graduation rate is 38% — low enough that finishing cannot be treated as the default outcome. Graduates leave owing a median of $9,500 — modest by four-year standards.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 38% graduate within six years. 50% first-year retention is low enough to be the defining risk of enrolling here. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. Transfer-out runs to 13% — common enough at this school that the completion rate is measuring a smaller group than the entering class. The 24:1 student-faculty ratio is high, so large classes and limited faculty contact should be the expectation.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,047 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Net price lands at $25,751 a year on average, neither cheap nor punishing. Income makes less difference than usual: $25,497 at $0–30k, $27,669 at $48–75k. 79% of students receive grant aid, averaging $5,714 — common but not automatic. 82% of students borrow federally, so debt is the norm rather than the exception.
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 · 152 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 | $25,497 |
| $30–48k | $26,541 |
| $48–75k | $27,669 |
| $75–110k | — |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 862 of these 1,047 students, totalling $4,895,268 — an average of $5,679 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Berkeley 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)