College Viability Inspection Report

Rocky Mountain College

Montana · Private, not-for-profit

Rocky Mountain College is a private, nonprofit institution in Montana, enrolling 759 students as of 2024. It graduates 33% of students in four years, returns 69% of freshmen for a second year, and costs an average of $20,791 a year after grants and scholarships. Of the 9 inspection checks that could be evaluated, 7 are flagged: Retention, Graduation, Equity Gap, Enrollment, Endowment, Cost vs. Completion, and Price vs. Outcomes. This report benchmarks Rocky Mountain College's most recent reported year (2024) against 2,000+ U.S. colleges across three dimensions: student outcomes, financial health, and value for money. All figures are drawn from federal IPEDS filings and are reported without editorial judgment.

Rocky Mountain College Inspection Flags

Student Outcomes
Financial Health
Value for Your Money

Inspection flags are nine independent checks across student outcomes, financial health, and cost-to-value that surface areas of a college's reported numbers worth a closer look. A triggered flag means the college's data met a specific threshold that students and families may want to ask about — for example, graduation rates slipping below a level, or tuition rising while outcomes decline. A clear flag means the threshold was not met. Flags are signals for further conversation, not verdicts.

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College Viability
Data Summary

Rocky Mountain College — All Reported Indicators

Plain-text reference table of every metric and inspection flag for Rocky Mountain College. Values reflect IPEDS-reported figures; percent changes reflect endpoint-to-endpoint 2020 → 2024 comparison; percentiles reflect 2024 national rank against four-year public and private nonprofit institutions. Cells marked "not reported" indicate the indicator was not present in IPEDS for this institution.

Student Outcomes

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Four-Year Graduation Rate33.0%+3.1%37th
Six-Year Graduation Rate45.0%-8.2%31st
Full-Time Retention Rate69.0%+7.8%27th
Pell Grant Six-Year Graduation Rate37.8%-15.5%30th
Pell-to-Non-Pell Graduation Gap15.1pp+31.0%76th
Pell Share of Cohort32.5%-2.8%37th

Financial Health

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Revenue-to-Expense Ratio1.14×+15.0%66th
Total FTE Enrollment759-6.8%29th
Endowment Value$44.3M+34.8%46th
Net Assets (End of Year)$69.3M+33.2%43rd

Value for Money

Metric2024 Value5-Yr % ChangeNational Percentile
Instructional Spending %38.0%+0.5%69th
Student Support Spending %25.2%+2.2%89th
Administrative Spending %16.0%-8.9%40th
Instruction+Support to Admin Ratio3.95×+11.0%76th
Average Net Price$20,791+0.8%57th
Net Price: $0-30K Income$15,404-11.0%57th
Net Price: $30K-48K Income$13,781-17.8%48th
Net Price: $48-75K Income$14,957-19.0%42nd
Net Price: $75K-110K Income$19,892-8.8%47th
Net Price: $110K+ Income$25,150+5.5%51st

Inspection Flags

FlagSectionStatus
Retention Below 80%
Rocky Mountain College's retention rate fell below 80% in 5 of 5 reported years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold.
Student OutcomesTriggered
Four-Year Graduation Rate Below 50%
Rocky Mountain College's 4-year graduation rate fell below 50% in 5 of 5 reported years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold.
Student OutcomesTriggered
Pell Gap Exceeds 10 Points
Rocky Mountain College's Pell graduation gap exceeded 10 percentage points in 5 of 5 eligible years — triggering the 3-of-5 threshold.
Student OutcomesTriggered
Revenue-to-Expense Below 1.0
Rocky Mountain College's ratio fell below 1.0 in 2 of 5 reported years — below the 3-of-5 trigger threshold.
Financial HealthCleared
Enrollment Declined 5% or More
Rocky Mountain College's total enrollment fell from 814 to 759 students between 2020 and 2024 (-6.8%) — a decline of 5% or more.
Financial HealthTriggered
Endowment Under $50M or Growth Under 15%
Rocky Mountain College's endowment is $44.3M, under the $50 million threshold. A smaller endowment leaves less cushion for scholarships and for tough budget years, even though it grew +34.8% over the period.
Financial HealthTriggered
High Cost, Low Completion
Rocky Mountain College costs more than the national median AND graduates students at below-median rates — both conditions for this flag are met.
Value for MoneyTriggered
Spending on Students Below the National Median
Rocky Mountain College spends $3.95 on instruction and student support per $1 of admin in 2024 — at or above the national median of $2.75 in every reported year.
Value for MoneyCleared
Rising Price, Falling Outcomes
Both conditions were met: Rocky Mountain College's net price rose while the 6-year graduation rate declined between 2020 and 2024 — a prompt to ask whether tuition increases are translating into stronger student outcomes.
Value for MoneyTriggered