Kansas 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

Kansas median public in-state tuition is $4,260, about -22.7% vs the national median. Versus the Plains region, tuition is -31.6%.

Median graduate debt is $11,171 (-16.8% below the U.S. median of $13,432, and -36.2% 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: #12 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #1 in Plains of 7 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Kansas ranks #11 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 Kansas are $53,175, about -2.1% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 91.9% 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% (+3.9 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 65.6% 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 6.0% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 74.5% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Kansas ranks earnings #26 and employment proxy #8 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Bethel College-North Newton (96.0%), Kansas Wesleyan University (95.5%), Bethany College (94.7%), University of Saint Mary (94.4%), Baker University (94.1%), Kansas State University (93.0%), University of Kansas (92.5%), MidAmerica Nazarene University (92.5%), Friends University (92.1%), Emporia State University (91.9%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Kansas, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $54,058 (17 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $50,653 (6 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 Kansas is 46.6% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 361,334 residents with some college but no credential in Kansas (YoY change 2.10%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.