+12%
In-state tuition
In-state tuition at Tri-County Community College rose 12% between 2021 and 2024 ($2.4k → $2.6k).
North Carolina · Public · Predominantly associate's
Tri-County Community College
Murphy, North Carolina. 435 undergraduate students. 47 programs in the federal Field-of-Study dataset.
ANOMALY ENGINE · NOTABLE SIGNALS
What the data flags at Tri-County 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 Tri-County Community College fell 100% between 2019 and 2022 (22.1% → 0.0%).
+46%
150%-time completion
150%-time completion at Tri-County Community College rose 46% between 2006 and 2009 (26.2% → 38.2%).
-37%
Median federal debt at exit
Median federal debt at exit at Tri-County Community College fell 37% between 2013 and 2016 ($9.5k → $6.0k).
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.
$32,232+18% · 6→10y
North Carolina median $36,030$27,374
Treasury earnings · 6y post-entry53.6%+20% · '97→'09
North Carolina median 46.1%—+27% · '12→'16
At program completion435+6% · '96→'24
latest IPEDS64.0%+10% · '04→'24
first-time, full-time—
latest cohort$2,363+193% · '00→'24
out-of-state $8,507SECTION 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.
+10%
Tri-County Community College · retention rose
69.0% → 76.2%
+174%
Tri-County Community College · in-state tuition rose
$900 → $2,636
+61%
Tri-County Community College · out-of-state tuition rose
$5,452 → $8,780
+27%
Tri-County Community College · median debt rose
$4,709 → $6,000
+591%
Tri-County Community College · pell share rose
2.5% → 32.1%
+51%
Tri-County Community College · earnings_median_10yr rose
$21,300 → $32,232
+41%
Tri-County Community College · earnings_median_8yr rose
$21,400 → $30,263
+32%
Tri-County Community College · earnings_median_6yr rose
$20,700 → $27,374
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 Tri-County 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
-$58,273
Over 40 years, discounted 5.0%
BREAKEVEN
—
Doesn’t reach breakeven within the horizon
- Cost per year
- $6,037
- 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
“Tri-County Community College graduates earn $X” — not “Tri-County Community College makes you earn $X”
Median earnings describe what cohorts earned. They do not describe what attending Tri-County 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.