Mercer County Technical Education Center is a public institution offering certificate degrees based in Princeton, West Virginia. It enrolls 120 students (a very small, intimate student body), according to IPEDS 2023-24 data. Every figure on this page is reported by the federal government, not supplied by the college, so it can be compared like for like against anywhere else you are looking.
These four scores answer one question: compared with similar colleges, is this one worth the money? Each runs 0 to 100 and is judged only against its peer group (2-Year), so a community college is never marked down for not being Harvard. Everything is computed from federal data. Nobody can pay to move a score, and a pillar with missing data is left unscored rather than guessed.
Strong
80/100
UCD Score · 2-Year
Outcomes83
Value96
Affordability89
Selectivity—
Admissions & Acceptance Rate
As a two-year college, Mercer County Technical Education Center admits essentially everyone who qualifies, so plan around cost and completion instead of your odds of getting in.
Acceptance Rate
Open
SAT Range (25th–75th)
—
Not reported
ACT Range (25th–75th)
—
Not reported
Cost & Financial Aid
Ignore the sticker price. What matters is the net price, which is what a typical family pays here after grants and scholarships come off. At $2,225 a year on average, it sits well below what public colleges charge nationally. At that level cost is rarely the reason to rule a college out. Figures are College Scorecard 2023-24.
What this means:
Aid reaches a meaningful share of the student body: 62% of students receive Pell grants. If your family qualifies for Pell, the real cost to you could be substantially lower than the average.
Graduation Rate & Retention
75% come back after first year. A sizeable share do not return for year two. Worth asking why. Source: IPEDS 2023-24.
Completion and earnings carry the most weight in this college's score, and how the UCD Score weighs each measure sets out exactly how they are combined.
6-Year Graduation Rate
—
Of students who graduate within six years
First-Year Retention
75%
Returning for their second year
After Graduation: Earnings & Outcomes
Ten years after starting here, the median student earns $33,511 a year, below the national median. Weigh that against the cost above before taking on debt here. Source: College Scorecard 2023-24.
Median Earnings (10 yrs)
$33,511
Earning > $25K
56%
10 yrs after entry
Earnings Growth After Graduation
Median annual earnings 6, 8, and 10 years after students first enrolled.
What this means:
Strong return on investment. Every dollar of net annual cost is matched by ~$15.1 of median earnings 10 years out.
Who Studies Here
Who you would actually be sitting next to: 120 students, an intimate, close-knit community. Worth knowing: 62% are the first in their family to go to college.
Total Enrolled
120
Part-Time
25%
First-Generation
62%
Race & Ethnicity Breakdown
Undergraduate student body composition reported to the US Department of Education.
GroupShareStudents
White 85.8%103
Black 11.7%14
Other 1.7%2
Hispanic 0.8%1
Student Life & Campus Culture
Where students live, learn, and connect at Mercer County Technical Education Center. The campus setting, housing profile, and signals that shape day-to-day life here.
Mercer County Technical Education Center offers
a focused set of programs:
5 distinct programs across
3 majors.
Below are its strongest majors, each with flagship programs and typical earnings.
Open a major to explore it in depth, or browse the full program catalog.
There are 10 students for every instructor here: small classes, and staff who are likely to know your name.
Student : Faculty
10:1
Students per instructional faculty member
Instruction / Student
$10,212
Annual instructional spending per enrolled student
Pros & Cons of Mercer County Technical Education Center
No college is right for everyone. Here is where Mercer County Technical Education Center is likely to suit you and where it may not, based on the same figures shown above.
Best for:
Based on the data, Mercer County Technical Education Center is a fit for
students who want a clear path to start college without a competitive admissions barrier; families focused on keeping net cost low; students who thrive in small, close-knit environments.
Frequently Asked Questions about Mercer County Technical Education Center
The questions families ask most about Mercer County Technical Education Center, answered straight from the federal data rather than from the college's own marketing.
Is Mercer County Technical Education Center hard to get into?
Not especially. Mercer County Technical Education Center admits most qualified applicants, and reports no competitive acceptance rate. Plan around cost and whether students finish, not your odds of getting in.
What is the acceptance rate at Mercer County Technical Education Center?
No acceptance rate is reported, which for a college like this normally means admission is open to anyone meeting the basic requirements. Confirm with the admissions office rather than assuming it.
How much does Mercer County Technical Education Center cost?
Budget around $2,225 a year. That is the net price, what families typically pay once grants and scholarships come off, not the sticker price. Your own figure depends on household income, so treat this as a midpoint rather than a quote. Source: College Scorecard 2023-24.
Is Mercer County Technical Education Center worth it?
On the numbers, yes: strong return on investment. Ten years in, the median graduate earns $33,511 a year against a net price of $2,225, about 15.1 dollars of earnings for every dollar of annual cost. That ratio ignores whether you finish and what you study, which matter just as much. Source: College Scorecard 2023-24.
What is Mercer County Technical Education Center known for?
Mostly Practical Nursing, Clinical/Medical Laboratory, Electrical and Power Transmission Installers. Those are the fields where it awards the most degrees, which is a better guide to where the teaching strength sits than any reputation ranking. Source: IPEDS 2023-24.
What do Mercer County Technical Education Center graduates earn?
About $33,511 a year, measured ten years after students first enrolled. Half earn more and half earn less, and what you study moves that figure far more than where you study. Source: College Scorecard 2023-24.
Is Mercer County Technical Education Center accredited?
Yes. Mercer County Technical Education Center is accredited by the Council on Occupational Education.
How many students attend Mercer County Technical Education Center?
120 students. Small enough that you will recognize faces across campus, and small enough that course choice can be limited. Source: IPEDS 2023-24.
Is Mercer County Technical Education Center a public or private college?
It is Public. Public, so in-state students usually pay materially less than everyone else.
Where is Mercer County Technical Education Center located?
Mercer County Technical Education Center is located in Princeton, West Virginia.
What programs does Mercer County Technical Education Center offer?
5 different programs, most commonly Practical Nursing, Clinical/Medical Laboratory, Electrical and Power Transmission Installers. If the subject you want is not among them, check the full list before applying rather than assuming it is offered.
What is the student-to-faculty ratio at Mercer County Technical Education Center?
10 students per instructor. Low enough that staff are likely to know who you are. Source: IPEDS 2023-24.
Related Colleges in West Virginia
Other colleges in West Virginia share the same applicant pool, regional economy, and academic landscape. Comparing nearby options puts admissions, costs, and outcomes in context, useful when weighing your fit against local alternatives.
Free, data-backed guides to help you decide, built on the same federal data as this profile.
H
How to Build Your College List Pillar
The full process of narrowing from 3,811 US colleges to a shortlist of ~10. Cost, location, size, selectivity, and fit factors that actually predict whether you'll thrive.
What actually makes a college work for first-generation students, the support and aid signals that predict success, and how to find the schools that deliver them using federal data.
How to find the colleges that deliver the strongest return on a STEM degree by weighing earnings outcomes against net cost, rather than chasing the most selective name.
Original data analyses built on the same federal data as this profile. Rankings, outliers, and patterns, no opinions.
American Colleges by the Numbers
One federal dataset, 3,811 colleges. The median school costs $16,296 a year, admits 78% of applicants, and enrolls 1,280 students. The shape of US higher ed.
Higher education data
Net price
College enrollment
Acceptance rate
College ownership
Do Selective Schools Actually Graduate More Students?
Across 1,645 four-year colleges, graduation rates climb steadily with selectivity, from 54% at open-admission schools to 93% at the most exclusive. The gap is real.
Graduation rate
Acceptance rate
Selectivity
Completion
College outcomes
For-Profit Colleges Charge the Most and Pay the Least
For-profit colleges post the highest median net price of any sector and the lowest graduate earnings. They cost more than private nonprofits and pay less than publics.
For-profit colleges
Net price
Earnings
College ROI
College ownership
Continue Exploring
Browse our full directory: every college, major, program, and career we track, all built from verified government data.
