Maine 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

Maine median public in-state tuition is $8,888, about +61.2% vs the national median. Versus the New England region, tuition is -5.5%.

Median graduate debt is $19,328 (+43.9% above the U.S. median of $13,432, and +2.1% vs the New England regional median of $18,927). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #43 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #3 in New England of 4 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Maine ranks #46 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 Maine are $48,653, about -10.4% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 15.0% 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% (-73.0 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 77.5% 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 4.9% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 79.6% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Maine ranks earnings #38 and employment proxy #51 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Bowdoin College (46.5%), Bates College (37.5%), Colby College (34.2%), Unity Environmental University (31.4%), Saint Joseph's College of Maine (19.8%), University of New England (15.0%), University of Maine (15.0%), University of Southern Maine (13.5%), Maine Maritime Academy (13.2%), University of Maine at Augusta (12.5%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Maine, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $50,473 (10 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $48,653 (7 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 Maine is 57.6% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 127,925 residents with some college but no credential in Maine (YoY change 3.20%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.