Is Clatsop Community College Worth It?

Clatsop Community College gives you a mixed financial picture that hinges almost entirely on what you study. Median earnings ten years out sit below $40,000, and the 23.7% graduation rate is the biggest risk here: most people who enroll do not finish, and a credential you never earn returns nothing on the money you spent.

Nursing is the reason to come here. The associate nursing program pays roughly $69,000 a decade later, more than $40,000 above the general liberal arts track and about the same gap over allied health and medical assisting. That one program carries the school's entire earnings case. If you can get into nursing and finish it, the math works well against a net price around $13,000 a year and typical debt near $11,600.

Everything else is weaker. The liberal arts associate degree lands near $27,000, and medical assisting lands around $25,000. Those are transfer-oriented or entry-level paths, and on their own they do not clear much above local living costs on the Oregon coast. Treat liberal arts as a stepping stone to a four-year school, not an endpoint.

The net price tiers have a quirk worth watching. You pay less if your family earns under $30,000 (about $11,100) than if you earn $30,000 to $110,000, where the price climbs past $15,000 and flattens around $16,000. Middle-income families get squeezed hardest here and see the least discount.

Come here if you want the nursing program and you are confident you will finish. The low debt load keeps your downside contained even if plans change. Look elsewhere if you want a general degree with no transfer plan, since the completion odds and the sub-$30,000 payoff on non-nursing tracks make that a poor bet.