Virginia 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

Virginia median public in-state tuition is $5,400, about -2.0% vs the national median. Versus the Southeast region, tuition is +8.2%.

Median graduate debt is $20,000 (+48.9% above the U.S. median of $13,432, and +41.1% vs the Southeast regional median of $14,173). Low sticker prices do not always mean low borrowing—living costs, time-to-degree, and aid mix matter.

Student debt rank: #47 nationally of 48 (lower debt = better rank); #11 in Southeast of 12 (1 = lowest median debt).

On published in-state tuition, Virginia ranks #25 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 Virginia are $54,869, about +1.0% vs the U.S. campus median ($54,323).

The median campus reports 86.8% 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% (-1.1 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 75.7% 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 4.1% (U.S. 5.0%); 3-yr repayment progress 74.4% (U.S. 73.7%). 3-yr default is omitted when most campuses report suppressed zeros.

Nationally, Virginia ranks earnings #22 and employment proxy #33 on these outcome medians (1 = best).

Top employment-outcome campuses in this extract include Bon Secours Memorial College of Nursing (92.9%), Randolph-Macon College (92.8%), Bridgewater College (92.7%), University of Virginia's College at Wise (92.3%), Christopher Newport University (92.1%), Eastern Mennonite University (92.0%), Longwood University (91.9%), Hampden-Sydney College (91.8%), Emory & Henry University (91.4%), Radford University (91.1%)—useful anchors for local reporting on where graduates are most often working rather than still enrolled.

Completion & workforce context

Within Virginia, sector medians diverge: Private for-profit median 10-yr earnings $37,374 (7 campuses); Private nonprofit median 10-yr earnings $53,431 (27 campuses); Public median 10-yr earnings $60,509 (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 Virginia is 57.6% (national institution average about 50.3%).

National Student Clearinghouse data cite roughly 880,067 residents with some college but no credential in Virginia (YoY change 7.50%). That stock of incomplete credentials sits alongside the completion and employment metrics above.