West Virginia
Junior College-Charleston
For-profit Community College in Cross Lanes, WV. Six-year graduation rate 60%. Median 10-year earnings $27,472.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $27,472, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. The six-year graduation rate is 60%, meaning about two in five students who start do not finish. Graduates leave owing a median of $8,270 — modest by four-year standards.
Earnings: College Scorecard, median ten years after entry across students who received federal aid — completers and non-completers alike.
- ✓ Debt-to-income ratio 0.30 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
Academics
60% graduate within six years — average, but that average still hides a large group who do not. First-year retention of 82% shows the cohort holds together through the hardest year. Retention and completion are close, which places the gap between entering and finishing almost entirely in year one. At 25:1, instructor access is thin — worth probing on a campus visit. This is a for-profit two-year institution. That is not disqualifying, but it does mean verifying accreditation, transferability of credits, and job-placement claims directly rather than trusting the category.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 317 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Average net price is $12,342 a year after grant aid — low for a four-year institution, though your own figure depends on aid eligibility. Income makes less difference than usual: $11,459 at $0–30k, $19,215 at $110k+. 99% of students get grant aid averaging $7,765, so the published price is a poor guide to what most pay. 73% 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 · 23 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 | $11,459 |
| $30–48k | $10,715 |
| $48–75k | $13,513 |
| $75–110k | $20,749 |
| $110k+ | $19,215 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 231 of these 317 students, totalling $1,334,323 — an average of $5,776 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Kanawha 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)