Western New
Mexico University
Public College in Silver City, NM. Six-year graduation rate 30%. Median 10-year earnings $39,095.
Ten-year median earnings of $39,095 are on the low side, which raises the bar for what this degree needs to cost. Only 30% finish within six years, so roughly two in three students leave without the credential they enrolled for. Graduates carry a median of $23,000 in debt — in line with the national norm. It also moves people — 3.1% 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.
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 30% — below national average
Academics
Completion is the problem here: 30% graduate within six years. Just 58% of first-years come back — most of the completion gap opens in year one. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. 27% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. The part-time picture is harder: 46% return, against 58% full-time.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,934 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
Students pay an average of $9,477 annually, well below typical undergraduate net price. Income makes less difference than usual: $8,381 at $0–30k, $13,210 at $110k+. Grant aid is widespread — 91% of students receive it, averaging $13,488. About 29% borrow federally, roughly the national pattern.
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 · 316 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 | $8,381 |
| $30–48k | $8,336 |
| $48–75k | $12,493 |
| $75–110k | — |
| $110k+ | $13,210 |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 560 of these 1,934 students, totalling $3,492,002 — an average of $6,236 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Grant 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)