South Carolina 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

South Carolina median public in-state tuition is $7,558, about +37.1% vs the national median. Versus the Southeast region, tuition is +51.4%.

Median graduate debt is $15,917 (+18.5% above the U.S. median of $13,432, and +12.3% vs the Southeast regional median of $14,173). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #33 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #8 in Southeast of 12 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, South Carolina ranks #43 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 South Carolina are $44,999, about -17.2% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 88.8% 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% (+0.9 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 69.7% 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 6.5% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 66.0% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, South Carolina ranks earnings #46 and employment proxy #26 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Presbyterian College (94.7%), Erskine College (92.4%), Newberry College (92.1%), Lander University (91.6%), Citadel Military College of South Carolina (90.4%), University of South Carolina-Upstate (90.1%), Wofford College (90.0%), Anderson University (89.9%), Allen University (89.7%), Francis Marion University (89.5%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within South Carolina, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $42,568 (20 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $48,088 (13 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 South Carolina is 47.3% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 453,106 residents with some college but no credential in South Carolina (YoY change 1.80%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.