Wisconsin 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

Wisconsin median public in-state tuition is $5,112, about -7.3% vs the national median. Versus the Great Lakes region, tuition is -9.1%.

Median graduate debt is $20,492 (+52.6% above the U.S. median of $13,432, and +46.3% 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: #48 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #5 in Great Lakes of 5 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Wisconsin ranks #18 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 Wisconsin are $55,173, about +1.6% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 94.1% 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% (+6.2 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 76.2% 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 3.3% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 81.1% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Wisconsin ranks earnings #20 and employment proxy #2 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (96.4%), Carroll University (96.1%), Marian University (96.0%), Viterbo University (95.9%), Milwaukee School of Engineering (95.8%), University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire (95.7%), Wisconsin Lutheran College (95.6%), University of Wisconsin-River Falls (95.3%), Saint Norbert College (95.3%), University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh (95.3%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Wisconsin, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $55,281 (22 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $55,173 (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 Wisconsin is 55.6% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 629,052 residents with some college but no credential in Wisconsin (YoY change 1.00%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.