West Shore
Community College
Public Community College in Scottville, MI. Six-year graduation rate 27%. Median 10-year earnings $36,115.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $36,115, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Completion is the weak point: 27% graduate within six years. Median debt at graduation is $9,089, 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 27% — below national average
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 27% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. Retention of 68% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. 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. 29% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. Retention drops to 46% 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 651 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $3,927 a year on average after grant aid, cost is low here relative to most undergraduate institutions. The gap between the $0–30k and $75–110k bands is narrow ($-42 versus $5,433), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 82% of students at an average of $5,846. Only 6% 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 · 93 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 | $-42 |
| $30–48k | $822 |
| $48–75k | $2,665 |
| $75–110k | $5,433 |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 39 of these 651 students, totalling $242,229 — an average of $6,211 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Mason 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)