Louisiana 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

Louisiana median public in-state tuition is $6,004, about +8.9% vs the national median. Versus the Southeast region, tuition is +20.3%.

Median graduate debt is $13,271 (-1.2% below the U.S. median of $13,432, and -6.4% vs the Southeast regional median of $14,173). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #24 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #5 in Southeast of 12 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Louisiana ranks #29 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 Louisiana are $47,477, about -12.6% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 89.7% 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% (+1.8 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 71.7% 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 7.0% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 75.9% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Louisiana ranks earnings #40 and employment proxy #23 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Louisiana State University Health Sciences Center-New Orleans (93.0%), Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University (92.5%), Louisiana Tech University (92.1%), Louisiana State University and Agricultural & Mechanical College (91.9%), University of Louisiana at Lafayette (91.9%), University of Louisiana at Monroe (91.4%), Southeastern Louisiana University (90.9%), Xavier University of Louisiana (90.4%), Southern University and A & M College (90.4%), Southern University Law Center (90.4%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Louisiana, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $51,942 (9 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $46,626 (16 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 Louisiana is 45.1% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 458,711 residents with some college but no credential in Louisiana (YoY change 2.40%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.