Arkansas 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

Arkansas median public in-state tuition is $4,200, about -23.8% vs the national median. Versus the Southeast region, tuition is -15.9%.

Median graduate debt is $11,153 (-17.0% below the U.S. median of $13,432, and -21.3% 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: #11 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #2 in Southeast of 12 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Arkansas ranks #9 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 Arkansas are $44,824, about -17.5% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 90.4% 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% (+2.5 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 70.7% 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 8.4% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 74.8% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Arkansas ranks earnings #47 and employment proxy #15 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (95.0%), Ouachita Baptist University (93.0%), John Brown University (92.1%), Harding University (91.6%), University of Arkansas (91.4%), Hendrix College (91.1%), Philander Smith University (90.5%), Lyon College (90.4%), Henderson State University (90.4%), University of Central Arkansas (89.8%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Arkansas, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $45,586 (10 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $45,265 (9 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 Arkansas is 44.6% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 295,232 residents with some college but no credential in Arkansas (YoY change 1.50%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.