Indiana 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

Indiana median public in-state tuition is $6,518, about +18.2% vs the national median. Versus the Great Lakes region, tuition is +15.9%.

Median graduate debt is $16,712 (+24.4% above the U.S. median of $13,432, and +19.3% 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: #36 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #4 in Great Lakes of 5 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Indiana ranks #36 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 Indiana are $51,943, about -4.4% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 91.8% 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% (+3.9 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 75.6% 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 4.6% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 72.5% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Indiana ranks earnings #30 and employment proxy #9 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Hanover College (95.0%), Butler University (94.9%), Franklin College (94.8%), Manchester University (94.8%), Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (94.7%), Ball State University (94.4%), Valparaiso University (94.4%), Trine University-Regional/Non-Traditional Campuses (94.0%), Trine University (94.0%), Holy Cross College (93.7%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Indiana, sector medians diverge: Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $53,770 (31 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $48,352 (12 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 Indiana is 53.4% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 716,069 residents with some college but no credential in Indiana (YoY change 1.50%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.