New Hampshire 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

New Hampshire median public in-state tuition is $7,200, about +30.6% vs the national median. Versus the New England region, tuition is -23.4%.

Median graduate debt is $18,525 (+37.9% 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: #41 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #2 in New England of 4 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, New Hampshire ranks #40 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 New Hampshire are $55,836, about +2.8% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 13.2% 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% (-74.7 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 76.2% 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 3.2% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 82.6% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, New Hampshire ranks earnings #18 and employment proxy #52 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Dartmouth College (69.1%), Southern New Hampshire University (49.9%), New England College (34.0%), Franklin Pierce University (13.6%), University of New Hampshire-Main Campus (13.2%), University of New Hampshire College of Professional Studies Online (13.2%), Colby-Sawyer College (11.1%), Keene State College (10.8%), Plymouth State University (10.8%), Saint Anselm College (10.5%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within New Hampshire, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $52,248 (7 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $66,479 (5 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 New Hampshire is 57.4% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 94,135 residents with some college but no credential in New Hampshire (YoY change 1.80%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.