Washington 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

Washington median public in-state tuition is $5,356, about -2.8% vs the national median. Versus the Far West region, tuition is +63.1%.

Median graduate debt is $13,653 (+1.6% above the U.S. median of $13,432, and +16.2% 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: #27 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #5 in Far West of 5 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Washington ranks #23 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 Washington are $63,538, about +17.0% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 90.2% 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% (+2.3 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 78.3% 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 80.4% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Washington ranks earnings #4 and employment proxy #16 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Gonzaga University (94.7%), Whitworth University (93.2%), Pacific Lutheran University (92.4%), Seattle Pacific University (91.8%), Washington State University (91.7%), Walla Walla University (91.5%), Central Washington University (91.0%), Saint Martin's University (90.8%), Seattle University (90.7%), Northwest University (90.6%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Washington, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $62,092 (15 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $65,737 (8 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 Washington is 46.4% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 963,338 residents with some college but no credential in Washington (YoY change 1.30%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.