Is Mott Community College Worth It?

Mott Community College runs cheap and pays back unevenly. At roughly $6,300 a year, you are not risking much money up front, and the typical debt load stays low. But the median graduate earns around $32,500 a decade out, barely above what full-time minimum-wage work brings in. The number that should worry you most is the graduation rate: fewer than 15 percent finish. Most people who enroll here leave without a credential, and that is where the real financial risk sits.

Your major decides everything. Nursing is the clear winner, with graduates out-earning the school's median by more than double, though it also carries the heaviest debt on the list. Allied Health and Drafting/Design both land in the high $40Ks and cost far less to complete. Computer Systems Networking and Electrical Engineering Technology round out the payoff programs. Everything outside these applied, hands-on fields is a gamble, because the school-wide earnings figure tells you the average path does not lead to strong pay.

Mott sits in Flint, a regional job market with limited high-wage options, so the programs that work are the ones tied to specific local employers: hospitals, manufacturers, and skilled trades. If you enroll in one of the healthcare or technical tracks and actually finish, you come out with a credential that costs little and pays a livable wage. That is the narrow lane where this school makes financial sense.

If you earn under $30k, your net price drops to about $3,900, making a completed technical certificate one of the cheapest routes to a real wage you will find. Higher-income families pay closer to $10,800 and get less of a bargain. Anyone planning to transfer to a four-year school, or unsure of their major, should treat the low completion rate as the deciding factor and have a concrete finish plan before enrolling.