-32%
150%-time completion
150%-time completion at McDowell Technical Community College fell 32% between 2006 and 2009 (25.0% → 16.9%).
North Carolina · Public · Predominantly certificates
McDowell Technical Community College
Marion, North Carolina. 614 undergraduate students. 43 programs in the federal Field-of-Study dataset.
ANOMALY ENGINE · NOTABLE SIGNALS
What the data flags at McDowell Technical Community College
Short-arc shifts (recent 3-year window), peer outliers, earnings trend breaks, completion drops, enrollment cliffs, and debt-to-earnings warnings — surfaced deterministically from the federal record. Multi-decade shifts are reported separately in the Long Arc section, since 25-year tuition drift isn't really an anomaly.
-100%
3-year cohort default rate
3-year cohort default rate at McDowell Technical Community College fell 100% between 2020 and 2023 (13.1% → 0.0%).
+16%
Median federal debt at exit
Median federal debt at exit at McDowell Technical Community College rose 15% between 2012 and 2015 ($4.9k → $5.6k).
+41%
Undergraduate enrollment
Undergraduate enrollment at McDowell Technical Community College rose 41% between 2021 and 2024 (431 → 608).
SECTION 01 · OUTCOMES SNAPSHOT
The numbers, vs. North Carolina
Each tile compares this institution to the North Carolina median for the same metric. Sub-line shows the comparison value, not an interpretation. Sparklines trace the federally available history.
$33,035-2% · 6→10y
North Carolina median $36,030$33,755
Treasury earnings · 6y post-entry57.1%-39% · '97→'09
North Carolina median 46.1%—+85% · '97→'15
At program completion614+12% · '96→'24
latest IPEDS70.6%+83% · '04→'24
first-time, full-time—
latest cohort$1,958+124% · '00→'24
out-of-state $6,566SECTION 02 · EARNINGS HORIZONS
How earnings spread, 4 to 10 years after entry
Treasury tax-record earnings for federally aided students who first enrolled at this institution. Each point is a horizon from the most-recent vintage. Single median per horizon (no p25/p75 publishing).
Earnings widen with time post-entry. Selection: federal-aid recipients only — not all graduates.Methodology →
SECTION 04 · LONG ARC
Ten-plus year arc
Federally available history. Coverage varies by metric — IPEDS publishes some series only after 2009 and others only before.
Undergraduate enrollment.
150%-time completion rate.
Median federal student debt at exit.
-39%
McDowell Technical Community College · completion · 150% fell
27.8% → 16.9%
+83%
McDowell Technical Community College · retention rose
44.0% → 80.5%
+112%
McDowell Technical Community College · in-state tuition rose
$908 → $2,032
+85%
McDowell Technical Community College · median debt rose
$3,050 → $5,634
+36%
McDowell Technical Community College · earnings_median_10yr rose
$24,300 → $33,035
+32%
McDowell Technical Community College · earnings_median_8yr rose
$23,600 → $31,195
+43%
McDowell Technical Community College · earnings_median_6yr rose
$23,600 → $33,755
SECTION 05 · PROGRAMS
Ranked by 5-year earnings
Each row is one (CIP × credential) program reported by the institution in College Scorecard's Field-of-Study data. Cohort floor is 30 students; below this, federal data is suppressed.
SECTION 06 · BY CIP FAMILY
2 programs with earnings, grouped
Programs are grouped by 2-digit CIP family. Programs without reported earnings are hidden to keep the list focused.
LIBERAL ARTS & GENERAL STUDIES · CIP 24
HEALTH PROFESSIONS · CIP 51
FINANCIAL OUTCOME · ILLUSTRATION
Estimate the financial outcome at McDowell Technical Community College
Pick a program. Cost from Scorecard net price by family income; earnings from Treasury 5-year-post-completion median, projected forward with a Mincer age-earnings curve. The selection-bias toggle applies the Dale-Krueger shrinkage. Outcomes illustration, not a forecast — see methodology.
Shrinks the earnings premium toward the matched-applicant mean. STEM <15%, business ~40%, arts & education ~60%.
NET PRESENT VALUE
-$73,572
Over 40 years, discounted 5.0%
BREAKEVEN
—
Doesn’t reach breakeven within the horizon
- Cost per year
- $8,399
- HS-only baseline · NC
- $35,600
- Years to complete
- 2
- CIP family
- 24
Outcomes illustration · not a forecast. Projects observed Scorecard earnings forward with a Mincer age-earnings curve under your assumptions. See methodology for the math.
SECTION 07 · SIMILAR INSTITUTIONS
Same sector and degree mix in North Carolina
Picked by Carnegie sector × predominant credential level. These are not rankings — just nearest-neighbour surfaces for comparison.
CAUSAL DISCIPLINE
“McDowell Technical Community College graduates earn $X” — not “McDowell Technical Community College makes you earn $X”
Median earnings describe what cohorts earned. They do not describe what attending McDowell Technical Community College caused. Selection effects (who admits, who enrolls, who completes) are real. We publish federal data with strict descriptive phrasing — and link the methodology where you can read about the limitations directly.