Ohio 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

Ohio median public in-state tuition is $7,491, about +35.9% vs the national median. Versus the Great Lakes region, tuition is +33.2%.

Median graduate debt is $14,004 (+4.2% above the U.S. median of $13,432, and 0.0% vs the Great Lakes regional median of $14,004). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #28 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #3 in Great Lakes of 5 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Ohio ranks #42 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 Ohio are $52,581, about -3.2% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 91.0% 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% (+3.1 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 73.7% 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 5.6% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 71.4% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Ohio ranks earnings #27 and employment proxy #12 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Walsh University (95.7%), Ohio Northern University (95.3%), Bluffton University (95.2%), Mount Carmel College of Nursing (95.1%), University of Mount Union (95.0%), Mercy College of Ohio (94.9%), Wilmington College (94.7%), Heidelberg University (94.6%), Ashland University (94.2%), University of Dayton (94.1%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Ohio, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $54,132 (46 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $52,131 (21 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 Ohio is 46.4% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 1,274,006 residents with some college but no credential in Ohio (YoY change 1.40%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.