Colorado Colleges: Tuition, Debt & Earnings (2026 stats)

Analysis & insights

EDsmart Data aggregates institution-level College Scorecard data for this profile. Highlights below compare local medians to U.S. and regional benchmarks.

Costs & borrowing

Colorado median public in-state tuition is $5,140, about -6.8% vs the national median. Versus the Rocky Mountains region, tuition is +4.6%.

Median graduate debt is $11,338 (-15.6% below the U.S. median of $13,432, and +7.4% vs the Rocky Mountains regional median of $10,555). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #13 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #4 in Rocky Mountains of 5 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Colorado ranks #19 nationally (1 = lowest median sticker among states with data).

Earnings, employment & retention

Among bachelor's-predominant campuses with ≥200 students, median 10-year earnings in Colorado are $52,231, about -3.9% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 88.1% of its 8-year cohort as working and not enrolled—our closest federal proxy to a placement rate. The U.S. campus median is 87.9% (+0.2 pp). Formal job-placement statistics are not published in Scorecard; treat this as a comparative outcome indicator, not a hire guarantee.

First-year, full-time retention at the median campus is 72.5% vs a U.S. median of 76.3%—a leading indicator for completion and time-to-degree.

Loan repayment indicators at the median campus: 2-yr default 4.5% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 70.7% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Colorado ranks earnings #28 and employment proxy #28 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Colorado School of Mines (93.2%), Denver College of Nursing (92.1%), Colorado State University-Fort Collins (90.3%), University of Northern Colorado (90.2%), Fort Lewis College (89.1%), Regis University (88.9%), Adams State University (88.9%), Colorado State University Pueblo (88.6%), Western Colorado University (88.6%), University of Colorado Denver/Anschutz Medical Campus (88.4%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Colorado, sector medians diverge: Private for-profit median 10-yr earnings $40,069 (4 campuses); Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $57,819 (6 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $54,659 (14 campuses). Public campuses often dominate enrollment while private nonprofits can show higher earnings medians at selective institutions.

Average institution-level completion rate across all sectors in Colorado is 47.9% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 623,114 residents with some college but no credential in Colorado (YoY change 1.50%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.