Western Wyoming
Community College
Public Community College in Rock Springs, WY. Six-year graduation rate 33%. Median 10-year earnings $40,939.
Median earnings ten years after entry come to $40,939, below what most undergraduate institutions return — the central fact to weigh against cost here. Completion is the weak point: 33% graduate within six years. Graduates leave owing a median of $9,000 — 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 0.22 — healthy (below the 0.40 threshold)
- ✓ 3-year loan default 0.0% — below national benchmark
- ! Graduation rate 33% — below national average
Academics
A six-year graduation rate of 33% means finishing is closer to the exception than the rule. Retention of 60% means a meaningful slice of each entering class does not return. That gap between coming back and finishing is where this school loses people — after the first year, not during it. 15% transfer out. IPEDS does not follow them, so whether they finished elsewhere is not recorded either way. A 11:1 ratio points to small classes and accessible faculty.
Financial Aid
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24 · grant and loan rates against 1,288 degree- or certificate-seeking undergraduates
At $8,913 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 ($6,077 versus $7,867), meaning aid is not strongly need-weighted. Grant aid reaches 75% of students at an average of $6,551. Only 23% 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 · 331 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 | $6,077 |
| $30–48k | $5,873 |
| $48–75k | $8,417 |
| $75–110k | $7,867 |
| $110k+ | — |
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Federal student loans went to 290 of these 1,288 students, totalling $1,910,342 — an average of $6,587 each.
IPEDS Student Financial Aid · 2023-24
Local housing costs
Typical rents near campus (Sweetwater 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)