Michigan 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

Michigan median public in-state tuition is $5,640, about -1.1% vs the national median. Versus the Great Lakes region, tuition is -1.8%.

Median graduate debt is $13,000 (-3.7% below the U.S. median of $13,500, and -10.8% vs the Great Lakes regional median of $14,568). 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); #2 in Great Lakes of 5 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Michigan ranks #26 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 Michigan are $60,000, about +1.0% vs the U.S. campus median ($59,401).

The median campus reports 93.7% of its 8-year cohort as working and not enrolled—our closest federal proxy to a placement rate. The U.S. campus median is 93.0% (+0.7 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 76.4%—a leading indicator for completion and time-to-degree.

Loan repayment indicators at the median campus: 2-yr default 5.5% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 69.5% (U.S. 73.8%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Michigan ranks earnings #18 and employment proxy #16 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Albion College (96.5%), Kettering University (96.2%), Chamberlain University-Michigan (96.2%), Michigan Technological University (95.8%), Alma College (95.8%), Hope College (95.8%), Michigan State University (95.5%), Grand Valley State University (95.3%), Adrian College (95.1%), University of Detroit Mercy (95.0%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Michigan, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $60,349 (26 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $59,879 (15 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 Michigan is 55.0% (national institution average about 49.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 1,093,393 residents with some college but no credential in Michigan (YoY change 2.40%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.