Michigan Trade Schools: Cost, Completion & 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

Median graduate debt is $9,714 (+2.2% above the U.S. median of $9,500, and +2.3% vs the Great Lakes regional median of $9,500). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #34 nationally of 58 (lower debt = better rank); #4 in Great Lakes of 5 (1 = lowest median debt).

Earnings, employment & retention

Among bachelor's-predominant campuses with ≥200 students, median 10-year earnings in Michigan are $34,982, about -12.3% vs the U.S. campus median ($39,899).

The median campus reports 86.7% of its 8-year cohort as working and not enrolled—our closest federal proxy to a placement rate. The U.S. campus median is 85.5% (+1.2 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 84.4% vs a U.S. median of 65.2%—a leading indicator for completion and time-to-degree.

Loan repayment indicators at the median campus: 2-yr default 11.8% (U.S. 11.1%); 3-yr repayment progress 47.6% (U.S. 50.5%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Michigan ranks earnings #47 and employment proxy #21 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Universal Technical Institute-Canton (91.0%), Gogebic Community College (90.2%), Southwestern Michigan College (90.1%), Detroit Business Institute-Downriver (89.9%), Northwestern Michigan College (89.8%), Grand Rapids Community College (89.4%), Glen Oaks Community College (89.4%), Muskegon Community College (89.3%), West Shore Community College (89.3%), North Central Michigan College (89.2%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Michigan, sector medians diverge: Private for-profit median 10-yr earnings $32,417 (51 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $41,844 (32 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 Michigan is 60.0% (national institution average about 66.8%).