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Mountain Empire Community College Data & Information Overview

3 awards Ranking Badges
Fair Price Value for Your Money
Want the scoop on Mountain Empire Community College? We’ve put together a comprehensive report on the school that covers what majors MECC offers, how the school ranks, how diverse it is, and much more.
Want to dig deeper into a particular stat? Just click on its tile and you’ll be taked to a more in-depth page on the figure. In addition, you can use the links below to quickly jump to any section on this page.

How Well Is Mountain Empire Community College Ranked?

#2,006 Best Colleges in Nation
Allied Health Professions Highest Ranked Major
#928 Best for the Money in Nation

2024 Rankings

In its yearly rankings, College Factual analyzes over 2,000 colleges and universities to determine which ones are the best in a variety of categories, such as overall value, quality, diversity, which schools are the best for each major, and much more.

Mountain Empire Community College was awarded 3 badges in the 2024 rankings. The highest ranked major at the school is allied health professions.

Explore Best Ranked Schools for You

Explore the best ranked schools for the programs you are most interested in.

Overall Quality

According to College Factual's 2024 analysis, MECC is ranked #2,006 out of 2,217 schools in the nation that were analyzed for overall quality. This is an improvement over the previous year, when MECC held the #2,012 spot on the Best Overall Colleges list.

See all of the rankings for Mountain Empire Community College.

Is It Hard to Get Into MECC?

Open Admissions Policy

Acceptance Rate

Mountain Empire Community College has an open admissions policy, so you should not have much trouble being accepted by the school. Still, it is important to fill out the application completely and submit any requested materials, which may include proof that you have a high school diploma or the equivalent.

Learn more about Mountain Empire Community College admissions.

Mountain Empire Community College Faculty

19 to 1 Student to Faculty
35% Full Time Teachers

Student to Faculty Ratio

At Mountain Empire Community College, the student to faculty ratio is 19 to 1. Compared to the national average of 15 to 1, this is somewhat high. This could mean that class sizes may be larger than they are at other colleges or universities or that professors may be required to teach more classes.

Percent of Full-Time Faculty

When estimating how much access students will have to their teachers, some people like to look at what percentage of faculty members are full time. This is because part-time teachers may not have as much time to spend on campus as their full-time counterparts.

The full-time faculty percentage at Mountain Empire Community College is 35%. This is lower than the national average of 47%.

Full-Time Faculty Percent  35 out of 100
0
100

Retention and Graduation Rates at Mountain Empire Community College

68% Freshmen Retention

Freshmen Retention Rate

The freshmen retention rate tells us what percentage of first-year, full-time students choose to continue on to their sophomore year at a particular school. The rate at Mountain Empire Community College is 68%, which is about average when compared to the national rate of 68%.

Freshmen Retention Rate  68 out of 100
0
100

Find out more about the retention and graduation rates at Mountain Empire Community College.

Mountain Empire Community College Undergraduate Student Diversity

1,010 Full-Time Undergraduates
4.1% Racial-Ethnic Minorities*
64.0% Percent Women

During the 2017-2018 academic year, there were 2,253 undergraduates at MECC with 1,010 being full-time and 1,243 being part-time.

How Much Does Mountain Empire Community College Cost?

$5,401 Net Price
1% Take Out Loans
$12,024 Total Student Loans
The overall average net price of MECC is $5,401. The affordability of the school largely depends on your financial need since net price varies by income group.

The net price is calculated by adding tuition, room, board and other costs and subtracting financial aid.Note that the net price is typically less than the published for a school. For more information on the sticker price of MECC, see our tuition and fees and room and board pages.

Student Loan Debt

While almost two-thirds of students nationwide take out loans to pay for college, the percentage may be quite different for the school you plan on attending. At MECC, approximately 1% of students took out student loans averaging $3,006 a year. That adds up to $12,024 over four years for those students.

Get more details about paying for Mountain Empire Community College.

How Much Money Do MECC Graduates Make?

$27,920 Avg Salary of Grads
High Earnings Boost
The pay for some majors is higher than others, but on average, students who graduate with a bachelor's degree from MECC make about $27,920 a year during their first few years of employment after graduation. Unfortunately, this is 34% less that the average college graduate's salary of $42,485 per year. However, graduates in your major field may make more.

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See which majors at Mountain Empire Community College make the most money.

Location of Mountain Empire Community College

Virginia State
1,010 Full-Time Undergraduates
Town Campus Setting
Mountain Empire Community College is a public institution located in Big Stone Gap, Virginia. The surrounding location of Big Stone Gap is ideal for students who enjoy the charms of a college town.

Get more details about the location of Mountain Empire Community College.

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Contact details for MECC are given below.

Contact Details
Address: 3441 Mountain Empire Road, Big Stone Gap, VA 24219
Phone: 276-523-2400
Website: www.mecc.edu/

Mountain Empire Community College Majors

14 Majors With Completions
322 Undergraduate Degrees
Learn more about the majors offered at Mountain Empire Community College along with which ones have the highest average starting salaries.

Online Learning at MECC

74% Take At Least One Class Online
38% Take All Classes Online

Online courses area a great option for busy, working students as well as for those who have scheduling conflicts and want to study on their own time. As time goes by, expect to see more and more online learning options become available.

In 2020-2021, 1,538 students took at least one online class at Mountain Empire Community College. This is a decrease from the 1,701 students who took online classes the previous year.

Year Took at Least One Online Class Took All Classes Online
2020-2021 1,538 790
2019-2020 1,701 835
2018-2019 1,307 412
2017-2018 1,323 490
2016-2017 1,238 364

Learn more about online learning at Mountain Empire Community College.

Notes and References

Footnotes

*The racial-ethnic minorities count is calculated by taking the total number of students and subtracting white students, international students, and students whose race/ethnicity was unknown. This number is then divided by the total number of students at the school to obtain the racial-ethnic minorities percentage.

References

More about our data sources and methodologies.

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