Minnesota 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

Minnesota median public in-state tuition is $6,249, about +13.4% vs the national median. Versus the Plains region, tuition is +0.4%.

Median graduate debt is $14,746 (+9.8% above the U.S. median of $13,432, and -15.7% vs the Plains regional median of $17,500). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #30 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #3 in Plains of 7 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Minnesota ranks #31 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 Minnesota are $58,680, about +8.0% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 93.4% 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% (+5.5 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 79.5% 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 3.5% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 82.1% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Minnesota ranks earnings #13 and employment proxy #6 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Saint Johns University (97.2%), College of Saint Benedict (96.6%), Winona State University (96.3%), University of Minnesota-Duluth (95.9%), Concordia College at Moorhead (95.9%), Gustavus Adolphus College (95.4%), University of St Thomas (95.3%), Minnesota State University-Mankato (95.0%), Southwest Minnesota State University (94.4%), Hamline University (94.3%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Minnesota, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $59,594 (22 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $57,489 (12 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 Minnesota is 57.5% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 563,065 residents with some college but no credential in Minnesota (YoY change 2.00%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.