Nevada 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

Nevada median public in-state tuition is $4,358, about -20.9% vs the national median. Versus the Far West region, tuition is +32.7%.

Median graduate debt is $9,500 (-29.3% below the U.S. median of $13,432, and -19.1% vs the Far West regional median of $11,750). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #3 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #1 in Far West of 5 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Nevada ranks #12 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 Nevada are $57,826, about +6.5% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 87.1% 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% (-0.8 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 78.8% 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 67.7% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Nevada ranks earnings #15 and employment proxy #32 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include University of Nevada-Reno (91.4%), Roseman University of Health Sciences (90.8%), University of Nevada-Las Vegas (87.8%), Chamberlain University-Nevada (86.5%), Nevada State University (86.1%), Arizona College of Nursing-Las Vegas (79.2%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Nevada, sector medians diverge: Public median 10-yr earnings $55,037 (3 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 Nevada is 38.0% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 334,492 residents with some college but no credential in Nevada (YoY change 1.70%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.