New York 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

New York median public in-state tuition is $7,340, about +33.2% vs the national median. Versus the Mid East region, tuition is -0.6%.

Median graduate debt is $15,215 (+13.3% above the U.S. median of $13,432, and +17.0% 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: #32 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #4 in Mid East of 5 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, New York ranks #41 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 New York are $60,386, about +11.2% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 42.9% 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% (-45.0 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 81.6% 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 4.0% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 75.8% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, New York ranks earnings #9 and employment proxy #46 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include United States Merchant Marine Academy (87.7%), Excelsior University (70.8%), Manhattan School of Music (66.2%), Columbia University in the City of New York (66.0%), Sarah Lawrence College (65.0%), Cornell University (64.1%), The New School (62.9%), New York University (61.7%), Pratt Institute-Main (61.5%), School of Visual Arts (61.1%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within New York, sector medians diverge: Private for-profit median 10-yr earnings $45,884 (5 campuses); Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $62,820 (90 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $58,300 (39 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 New York is 56.3% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 1,936,325 residents with some college but no credential in New York (YoY change 2.30%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.