Virginia Highlands
Community College
Public Community College in Abingdon, VA. Six-year graduation rate 40%. Median 10-year earnings $32,681.
Ten-year median earnings of $32,681 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. 40% finish within six years — respectable, though a meaningful share still leave without a credential.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
Academics
Completion is middling: 40% finish inside six years. Retention of 60% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. The two rates sit near each other: few students who return for a second year are missing from the six-year completion figure. The part-time picture is harder: 42% return, against 60% full-time. The student-faculty ratio is 17:1 — typical, which in practice means large lectures early and smaller classes in the major.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,335 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $6,065 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 $110k+ bands is narrow ($4,927 versus $8,843), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 81% of students at an average of $5,696.
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 · 257 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 | $4,927 |
| $30–48k | $5,078 |
| $48–75k | $6,189 |
| $75–110k | $7,489 |
| $110k+ | $8,843 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Washington 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)