Montana 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

Montana median public in-state tuition is $4,897, about -11.2% vs the national median. Versus the Rocky Mountains region, tuition is -0.3%.

Median graduate debt is $18,354 (+36.6% above the U.S. median of $13,432, and +73.9% vs the Rocky Mountains regional median of $10,555). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #39 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #5 in Rocky Mountains of 5 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Montana ranks #16 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 Montana are $48,666, about -10.4% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 89.9% 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% (+2.0 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 75.8% 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 8.0% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 77.8% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Montana ranks earnings #37 and employment proxy #21 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Carroll College (94.6%), Montana State University-Northern (91.8%), Rocky Mountain College (91.7%), The University of Montana-Western (91.4%), University of Providence (91.3%), Montana State University (88.5%), Montana State University Billings (88.4%), Montana Technological University (87.6%), The University of Montana (87.2%), Salish Kootenai College (75.3%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Montana, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $49,036 (3 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $44,511 (7 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 Montana is 45.4% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 102,764 residents with some college but no credential in Montana (YoY change 2.10%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.