Maryland 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

Maryland median public in-state tuition is $5,166, about -6.3% vs the national median. Versus the Mid East region, tuition is -30.0%.

Median graduate debt is $13,000 (-3.2% below the U.S. median of $13,432, and 0.0% vs the Mid East regional median of $13,000). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #20 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #3 in Mid East of 5 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Maryland ranks #20 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 Maryland are $61,797, about +13.8% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 86.0% 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 78.1% 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 4.7% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 77.2% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Maryland ranks earnings #8 and employment proxy #35 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Salisbury University (92.1%), Notre Dame of Maryland University (90.5%), Frostburg State University (89.5%), Stevenson University (89.1%), University of Maryland Baltimore (89.0%), Towson University (88.9%), Washington College (88.7%), McDaniel College (88.6%), Bowie State University (88.0%), Hood College (87.3%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Maryland, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $64,160 (14 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $61,335 (14 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 Maryland is 55.8% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 602,232 residents with some college but no credential in Maryland (YoY change 2.30%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.