Question: civilian contractors and security clearances

I had a brief discussion with a gentleman last night and the President
of our local Community Development group and this gentleman is
interested in moving a high tech business into our small rural town.
He says the basis for the work is photonics. I told him about some of
my background ( BS Comp. Science, retired Navy enlisted with top
security clearance) and he asked me how much money it costs a company
to obtain govt. clearances for a defense contract. I told him I
didn't know but I thought it was expensive. Maybe some of you in this
group have some experience with that, hence my questions:

What would it cost a company to obtain a security clearance for - say
for example - a recent college graduate with no prior govt. or DoD
experience?

Would it make a difference if the clearance was TS or Crypto? I
assume this guy has some kind of comm tech in mind.

What would it cost for the company to get a clearance for a military
retiree who has been out a short time (less than 3 years)?

What would it cost for the company to get a clearance for a military
retiree who has been out a longer time (more than 10 years)?

What agency does this for such a company? NSA? DoD? FBI? others?

Would any of you have a point of contact that you could give me to get
more information?

Any help you could provide would be greatly appreciated...
Regards,