-50%
First-year retention
First-year retention at Valley College-Martinsburg fell 50% between 2022 and 2024 (100.0% → 50.0%).
West Virginia · Private for-profit · Predominantly certificates
Valley College-Martinsburg
Martinsburg, West Virginia. 651 undergraduate students. 13 programs in the federal Field-of-Study dataset.
ANOMALY ENGINE · NOTABLE SIGNALS
What the data flags at Valley College-Martinsburg
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.
+31%
In-state tuition
In-state tuition at Valley College-Martinsburg rose 31% between 2009 and 2012 ($8.6k → $11.3k).
+31%
Out-of-state tuition
Out-of-state tuition at Valley College-Martinsburg rose 31% between 2009 and 2012 ($8.6k → $11.3k).
-10pp
150%-time completion
150%-time completion fell 10 pp at Valley College-Martinsburg vs the 2018–2022 baseline (58.3% vs 68.5%).
SECTION 01 · OUTCOMES SNAPSHOT
The numbers, vs. West Virginia
Each tile compares this institution to the West Virginia median for the same metric. Sub-line shows the comparison value, not an interpretation. Sparklines trace the federally available history.
$24,900-3% · 6→10y
West Virginia median $37,714$25,548
Treasury earnings · 6y post-entry58.3%-2% · '97→'24
West Virginia median 61.2%$9,418+214% · '97→'20
At program completion651+833% · '96→'24
latest IPEDS—-34% · '04→'24
first-time, full-time—±0% · '01→'09
latest cohort—+46% · '05→'12
annualSECTION 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 03 · DEBT-TO-EARNINGS
What loans cost relative to earnings
Annual debt service as a share of median earnings 10 years after entry, computed under federal Direct loan terms (10-year fixed at 6%). The 8% line is the gainful-employment threshold from federal regulation; above 12% has historically been considered “failing” under prior rule cycles.
Institution-wide
5.0%Median federal debt $9,418 amortized over 10 years vs. median earnings $24,900 (10y after entry).
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.
+29%
Valley College-Martinsburg · completion · 100% rose
29.2% → 37.5%
-34%
Valley College-Martinsburg · retention fell
76.0% → 50.0%
+342%
Valley College-Martinsburg · undergrad enrollment rose
82 → 765
+46%
Valley College-Martinsburg · in-state tuition rose
$7,750 → $11,300
+46%
Valley College-Martinsburg · out-of-state tuition rose
$7,750 → $11,300
+214%
Valley College-Martinsburg · median debt rose
$3,025 → $9,500
-100%
Valley College-Martinsburg · cohort default rate fell
17.7% → 0.0%
+30%
Valley College-Martinsburg · earnings_median_8yr rose
$24,600 → $32,000
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.
MECHANIC & REPAIR TECHNOLOGIES · CIP 47
HEALTH PROFESSIONS · CIP 51
FINANCIAL OUTCOME · ILLUSTRATION
Estimate the financial outcome at Valley College-Martinsburg
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
-$134,148
Over 40 years, discounted 5.0%
BREAKEVEN
—
Doesn’t reach breakeven within the horizon
- Cost per year
- $26,278
- HS-only baseline · WV
- $32,100
- Years to complete
- 1
- CIP family
- 51
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 West Virginia
Picked by Carnegie sector × predominant credential level. These are not rankings — just nearest-neighbour surfaces for comparison.
CAUSAL DISCIPLINE
“Valley College-Martinsburg graduates earn $X” — not “Valley College-Martinsburg makes you earn $X”
Median earnings describe what cohorts earned. They do not describe what attending Valley College-Martinsburg 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.